Finches

Chapter 29 - Crossroads

The pirates just kept on coming. Colt and Jagger did alright at first, working together to take down some of the invaders. It had worked well when they focused on just one pirate. Colt would draw their attention and engage them in a sword fight, while Jagger reinforced him from behind by shooting at the pirate when there was an opening and making sure no one else snuck up on them. At first the guy was a little rough around the edges when it came to shooting the flintlock. Colt witnessed some shots flying in all sorts of directions, some falling short and hitting the ground and others getting lost somewhere way above in the sky. But he never hit Colt, which was fortunate. And eventually he became more accurate, occasionally planting a bullet in the leg or shoulder of the pirate Colt was fighting. This made Colt's job much easier, as he would be fighting an already-wounded opponent. Jagger had by no means perfected the art yet, though he was already much better than Colt would be at it. But Colt hadn't perfected sword fighting either, so together they made an evenly-matched and fairly decent team.

Maybe too decent, though. The sound of gunshots seemed to attract more pirates, which ironically was the exact opposite of the effect the sound had on Colt. But sure enough the more pirates they took down, more arrived. It wasn't long before it got to the point where they were overwhelmed.

Colt was having an especially difficult time hacking down his sword upon some stubborn pirate who absolutely refused to die. When he got an extra moment (which were rare in sword fights) he glanced behind him to see what Jagger was up to. A bullet to the chest, between the eyes, or really pretty much anywhere on the pirate would have been an immense help right about now. But unfortunately it seemed that Jagger was dealing with his own problems. He was currently running in circles, just out of reach of a sharp blade, shooting his gun frantically in his pirate-pursuer's direction. It seemed that both he and Colt were in sticky situations and having trouble getting out of them. This not-so-ideal situation was made worse by the fact that there were several more pirates approaching, starting to surround them.

They probably heard all the gunshots Jagger was firing off, Colt thought to himself as he analyzed the battlefield for a moment. He saw even less authoritarian officers standing than before, which was probably not helping with their excess of pirates. Colt tried to find a safe place to run if they needed a quick escape, but before he could determine one his extra moment had passed and his arm almost got cut off by a pirate sword.

Colt withdrew his arm just in time, and the blade hit his cutlass instead, glancing off.

"Stay focused on the battle," growled his pirate.

Colt didn't respond and just focused on killing the guy. None of the retorts he could think of would make him feel better than just defeating the sucker, so he made the ultimate decision to keep quiet and focus. Which was pretty much what the pirate had just advised him to do. He hated the fact that he was using his opponent's advice more than the actual advice itself. Maybe he'd suggest that the pirate kill him, and put the man in a similar situation.

They stayed locked in battle for a long time, neither of them able to land anything on the other. Both of them had better offense than defense, and seemed to be evenly matched. So it went on and on with nothing happening. Both of them seemed to be exactly the same. Except for one key thing. Colt wasn't as patient.

He decided that doing this forever was both boring and pointless, so he made the decision to break the rhythm of attacks they'd formed. Instead of blocking the next strike like he was tempted to do, he stepped to the side and tried to get a better angle. He instantly felt the result as the pirate's sword made contact with his arm. Pain flooded his arm but Colt refused to let it distract him. He knew it was just a cut, and hadn't goon too deep. Besides, he had things of his own to focus on.