Sodalite and Aventurine (Larry Stylinson au)

CHAPTER VIII

Chapter Text

PYRITE

At the very edge of dawn, when the sky was still half-dark and everything was quiet and shaded blue, a single cannon went off.

It shot out of a ship, louder than any rifle or flintlock, and it blasted into wood. Into the hull of another ship.

Louis' ship.

It hit the port side of the Black Dagger. It went straight into the hammocks of sleeping men.

It killed at least two.

And it pulled Louis from his sleep.

He jolted up, heart bumping. He wasn't sure what he heard. It was a loud bang and smashing of wood, then a cry of voices. It sounded like something split in half.

Louis looked to Harry, whose face as only barely visible in the blueish daybreak. Harry's eyebrows were taught. He was awake. He was looking back at Louis like something was very, very wrong.

Deja vu washed over Louis, memories from the morning before swirling in his mind.

And then there was another bang. This one louder, closer. Louis was awake enough to recognise it. It was a cannon ball being sent into the side of his ship. He felt the vibrations of it shake the floor beneath the bed. He sprang from the mattress and grabbed his boots and dashed to the window, stomach all the way up in his chest. He tried to yank on his shoes as he looked but there was nothing to be seen out on the horizon, no sails in the distance. Wherever the cannon was firing from, it could not be seen from the back of the ship.

Harry was suddenly at Louis' side, looking through the window as he pulled his own pair of Louis' boots on. They needed to be dressed to run or fight or both, instincts for a pirate.

"We're being attacked," Louis breathed, voice marked with fear. "And we're trapped in this room."

"Do you know who it is?" Harry asked, "I can't see anything."

"I can't either," Louis replied. "I can't see a thing. We should try the bathroom window."

Harry nodded at him and they quickly made their way to the bathroom and stuck their heads into the small cavity in front of the window. It was barely big enough to house one face, let alone two. But they need not fight over the space, for right there, just past the window was the rear of another ship. It was incredibly close, maybe only two or three metres away from the Black Dagger. It was too close even to see any of its flags, all they saw through Louis' grimy window was a towering wall of wood.

"We need to get out of this room," Harry breathed, stepping back from the window."Can you pick the lock?"

"I can try. I'm not very go-" Another cannon blasted into Louis' ship and this time the shaking of the blast ungrounded Louis from his feet. He smacked into Harry's side, who quickly caught Louis' waist and steadied him. Louis latched one hand onto Harry's arm and the other onto the frame of the window. He let out a short breath and then continued, "I'm not very good, it was always Liam's talent."

"We could smash the other window and climb out," Harry suggested. He glanced down at Louis and then added, "Though I don't know if we could climb up to deck without losing our footing in a blast."