Torrent

Prologue Part 2

Bora the latest addition to the spool pirates was attending his own feast in his room in the floor above. Desperate to display an act of gratitude towards the captain who brought him along this dangerous journey, he volunteered to stay behind an watch over their cargo despite the captains remarks- "no ones going to steal anything from us Bora, come and enjoy the festival," Captain Spool said. "Sorry sir," Bora said, "We came in at a bad time so we can't unload now, I'll take on the responsibility of watching over this night". A frown appeared on the captains face, "Well why don't you fix yourself something from the pantry. We won't be needing any of it anyways, its all yours as my gratitude for watching the ship-even though you don't really have to." As the captain left, Bora felt a strong sense of acknowledgement as the captain really seemed to care about him. He didn't mind if he missed the opening day of the festival as long as he could do this one service for him.

Now standing in the doorway of the treasure room, he had decided to get some drinks and bread from the pantry when he noticed that something was off. They had been infiltrated. He grabbed the closest weapon he could find, which was just a very sturdy broomstick, and made his way to challenge the intruder. He couldn't let the trust his captain had for him to be lost, he hoped the intruder hadn't got a gun though as that might be tricky to deal with. To his surprise he found a boy who appeared to be younger than he was going through their gold stash. "Drop what you've taken and turn around or else. You shouldn't be here."

Terrence turned to face him. Sack filled with treasure in one hand, the stick he got from Marie in the other; he weighed his options. The loot wasn't heavy enough that he couldn't run with it, he might even be able to slip past the guard before him depending on proficient he was, but that was a risk. Marie didn't like him taking risks. He thought about dropping the sack to fight the guard, they looked around the same age, he might even be able to take him which would allow him to get away with even more loot -but if they're in here then what's happening outside with Marie. I hope she was able to get away. I need to be quick and go find her, and the only way I'm doing that is by going through him-

Terrence lessened the load of his loot. It wouldn't be valuable if he couldn't escape with it, altogether it now weighed about 18kg which he could comfortably swing around. "Can't I just leave with this? You've got a lot already," he said, trying to get the guards attention. "I can't let you do that I have a duty to uphold," Bora said, "Be happy that it was me that caught you and I'm letting you go so drop the rest." "Not happening," Terrence said as he dashed towards the doorway and swung the stick he was holding in his left hand with as much power as he could generate into the guard. Bora using two hand on the broom defended the incoming attack. Then Terrence pulled back his right arm where he held the sack and swung straight for his face hoping to knock him back with the force of the treasure. Bora quickly ducked below the punch and then swept the intruder off his feet. But Terrence reacted quickly, jumping above the sweep, leaning back, and using his two legs to dropkick the guard. This hit connected with great force and pushed him completely out of the doorway as he flew into the ground a few feet away. Terrence, recovering first from his landing, gathered himself and raced out of the room unto the stairs. He knew well that his attack wouldn't be enough to put the guard down for more than a few seconds -and if he had a torrent mark then he would be down for shorter and there would be no escaping. As he reached the first floor of the cabin he was able to notice loud sounds coming from the docks. The windows also showed that there was a fire just in front of the ship- Whats happening?!? I need to get back to Marie now-. Bora jumped out from the staircase in full swing towards the intruder, Terrence swung around putting all his force behind the stick he used to defend. Clash!! An explosion of brittle wood across the hallway could be heard as both weapons crumbled under the stress. In the midst of the impact, looking at the eyes of the guard, Terrence realized that he wouldn't be able to escape much less help Marie outside as he could sense the sheer determination from Bora. He had to take his chance.

Both fighters knocked back few meters from each other due to the impact. Bora looked at the intruder, expecting to continue the chase and learn his hideout; he was surprised when he stood to face him. Tying the loot around his waist and taking an offensive stance, Bora tossed the remnant of his weapon aside and readied his fist. "Are you finally giving up. Don't expect me to lose to someone who could only think to run a moment ago." "I didn't think you could catch me earlier. I'm know to be quite fast," Terrence replied. "There's much faster out there, you've been on this island too long. Although your reactions are nothing to sneeze at." "I'll take what I can get," Terrence said as he charged towards Bora full of determination.

In the meantime, outside the ship, Ann-Marie was setting up her traps across the harbor. Miniature bombs she created at home that she would detonate at will with her trace. She lined them up around the entryways and on the path to the Captain Spool. They weren't potent enough to cause any significant damage usually, it served mostly as a distraction as it could stun from up close. She had learned to make these from her father a few years back, mainly to be used as party tricks and the occasional fireworks. He loved to set these up before her mom came home and surprised her with neatly timed explosion on the walk in. He'd helped Ann get her first trace even though her mother didn't want her too -he said he wanted her to learn how to start using it early-. A sadness came over her as she reminisced about when her dad was around, before she worked the shop everyday after school, before Terrence moved in.

She thought about the night Terrence's parents left for good; two years ago they dropped him off at her house and after speaking with her mom in silent agreement handed him over, said their goodbyes and never came back. News came in a year later that they had died at sea and a ceremony was conducted for their burial. She remembered the face Terrence made from the day he was dropped off, he had a calm understanding. He never complained, never cried, never shouted out of anger. It terrified her that he could behave this way. Whenever thoughts of her dad crossed her mind, he was there to comfort her, taking her mind away from the grief she felt. She always wondered how he truly felt, if he had been hiding his feelings all this time. She didn't want to be the constant reminder of his pain, so she stopped crying, and resolved to be courageous for him, to at least help with the pain. One day Terrence didn't show up for dinner, Marie and her mother both went out to look for him. After hours of searching she found him in the basement of his parents house -their treasure room- looking into an open chest with tears in his eyes. The next day Terrence suggested stealing from pirates and Marie didn't try to convince him otherwise; for she had resolved then to be on his side no matter what. Their adventures had definitely not been easy since then; many rookie pirates had fallen for their tricks, a few had out managed to fend them off but never in a way they couldn't come out ahead. Their trust in each other allowed her to believe that they could overcome any scenario. 'What's taking him so long,' Ann-Marie wondered, most missions usually took a few hours too complete, but there was always the added complexity of dealing with guards and locating good timings to strike. This mission seemed straightforward enough, and there weren't supposed to be any guards on the ship. Marie sat at the foot of the gangway and had been monitoring the entrance to the pier ever since Terrence got on the boat. There was no movement for a while, in fact there was no motion at all, the wind howled as normal but it didn't seem to even rustle her clothes -how strange- she thought before slowly coming to a realization that she was in a mirage.