Playing for Keeps (a PIL fanfic)

Chapter 31

(Nathan's POV)

We had waited until everyone else got back before me and Arabella left for our treasure hunt. I was slightly hesitant, going to the ship we were going to. Lot of rumors floating around about the crew, and it's captain. The captain was said to be from a far off country, and his crew was rumored to have been gathered from all over, but he only chose certain ones to join his crew. Rumor was they all had gifts, or were magical. Whether it was an entire crew like Arabella, with odd gifts I couldn't say, but we would find out soon enough.

"That was something, Thomas finding Allison like that." Arabella muses out loud, as we walk.

I nod in agreement."That it was tomboy. Hey look... The ship were going to..." I pause, scratching the back of my neck in thought, as I try to figure out how to explain what I had heard. "The ship were going to... It's called the Fenrir... It's a newer crew... Tomboy, it's rumored the whole crew is like you.. Well, like they all have gifts... We need to be careful..." I trail off glancing at her..

"We're going to try and steal off of a ship, that might have an entire crew with gifts?" She asks, her eyes widening in shock. "Well... We'll just have to be on our guard I guess... Though I admit, I'm not too fond of the idea of walking into something like that.." She adds, running a hand back through her long brown hair.

" I never thought I'd see the day you were nervous about a fight tomboy." I tease, ruffling her hair, as I smirk at her.

"This is different Nate. There were many gifted in the thieves guild. We would practice with each other, it could get nasty. The guild changed drastically after my parents died. They tried to keep as many gifted as they could, they were using us. The man that took over.... Anyway.. It was part of the reason why I left the guild..." Arabella trails off, a distant look in her eyes. There was something else she wasn't telling me, I could feel it.

She had told the crew about her parents, and about the years she was alone. She never mentioned when she was still in the guild after they passed.. I got the feeling something big had to happen to make her leave, but I never pushed the topic with her. When she wanted to tell me she would.

We finally reached the ship, and climbed on board as quietly as we could. We made our way to the captain's quarters, digging through the boxes and shelves. "Something doesn't seem right" Arabella says suddenly, as she glances around the room. "This is too easy... I don't like it. Granted everyone else ran into trouble on the way out..." She trailed off, as she continued to dig through boxes, and I can't help chuckling about how paranoid she's being.

"Arabella, ya need to calm down. Whatever we may have to deal with on the way out, we'll deal with it together." I say, trying to reassure her. She may have been nervous, and I was slightly myself. But I also knew we were both good fighters, and she had good control over her gift, we would make it, we always did somehow.

"Yea I guess.." She murmurs, before pulling a necklace out of a box, a red ruby dangling from it. It had the red string tied on it, and she smirked, showing me she had found it. "Alright, let's get out of here." She adds, and I nod, taking her hand as we quietly head for the main deck of the ship.

          We take about three steps out onto the deck, when suddenly, a line of fire shoots out in front of us, directly in our path. We both freeze, and turn to look, to find a few members of the crew watching us. "Going somewhere?" One of them asks, smirking, as he shoots another line of fire at us.

              "It's a game, no need to get so hostile." I snarl, glaring at the crew member. The fire got a little to close to Arabella for my liking, and I was already reaching for my sickle and chain, taking a slight step forward.