FireSweet

Gold's Lust

I refused to open my eyes.  I didn’t want to wake up and see the cavern ceiling above me.  I knew my life was out, the battlefield was gone.  I could hear nothing.  My ears were still ringing from the sounds of my last final moments within the game.  I hadn’t even dropped my hands from over my face yet.  I had probably exploded into a puff of colored dust like the member of Storm’s crew had.  I was a failure, and would now suffer the consequences for my failure.  I would live my life in a flashover, returning to the etiquette camp.  But I guess there was really no way of getting around it.  I sighed and rolled over to get up.  I finally opened my eyes as I stood up.

 I saw every pirate with a blue bandana lying flat on his face and facing toward me.  Karius openly stared, gaping at me like I was part of a freak show.  His blades were on the ground where he had dropped them.  Jumѐ-falio was down on one knee.  Everyone was silent; they didn’t move or make a sound.  I whirled around and looked behind me, Captain Tempest Storm was flat on his back with burns obscuring most of the left side of his face and almost his entire left side.  The cabin behind him had a huge hole blasted into it, black ash was all that was left for a 50 yard streak. 

            As I stared into the gaping hole my eyes met a pair of icy blue eyes that mirrored my own.  My brother’s eyes widened in shock at seeing me standing over his captain, and my face lit up in a smile.  I had destroyed the precious captain, the guy that meant more to Red than his own kin.  I was a girl, and had been disowned by Red.  And now I was beginning my revenge. 

            Red ducked out of my sight and back into the cabin.  I whirled back around and faced the guys on the ground.  I held my head high decided to speak up.

 “Jumѐ-falio, come here.”

            To my complete amazement he got up and walked silently to my side, falling in a half a step behind my right shoulder.  He looked like he was waiting for me to say something more to him.

            “Is there anything we have left to do here?  Or do we leave them to lick their wounds?”

He blinked a few times and looked around at the common pirates that were still lying on their faces.  “I don’t know Gittoran,” he said, “it’s up to you.”

            I looked around and retook the scene in.  I knew there were more coins in the treasury and probably more hidden rooms in the main cabin.   But that could all wait until later, their Captain Storm would be out of it for a while, and probably wouldn’t take inventory for a long time.  I could come back and do as I wanted later.  It would all be mine now.

            “We’re leaving this dump.” I said plainly.  “Karius get your blades and open the door.”

            I really didn’t expect Karius to listen to me; he resented me for being a lady pirate after all, and a new member of the elite.  But he scrambled and almost tripped over his feet to race to do my bidding.  He didn’t even struggle with the door, what I had seen Kaelo and Shadow strain and groan to move even a little was easing open under Karius’s guidance. 

            “Jume,” I said, “get my stuff.  Let’s go.”

            Jume had a little more poise than Karius did.  He crisply returned my blades to me and walked after me calmly as we swept toward the camp’s exit.  This time I was not being dragged through the mud on my way out of the camp.  Now everyone was staring up at me from the dirt, awed by my presence. 

            I could get used to this.

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