The Quest

Sailing the South Sea

They sat in the hideout with the sheet pulled across so Sonia couldn't see them. She was tied up on the other side of the sheet. She kept shouting to let her go and to talk it out. Timothy and Pendleton both sat on the other side with cups of tea.

"What do we do with her?" Timothy asked. "She heard alot of what we said and she knows we're fugitives."

"I'm more interested in how you know this girl." Pendleton said as he stood up. He motioned for Timothy to follow him outside. They closed the door and stood on the door step of thier small hideout. "Alright, tell me how you know her."

"Well, we grew up together in my home town."

"Millers?"

"No, where I lived before my mother died. We were good friends but then I moved and started by apprenticeship in Millers. We tried to send letters to each other but eventually she cut off contact. She had always said about how she was going to become a famous treasure hunter and she would become rich. I had always figured that it was a childhood dream. In one of her last letters she mentioned that he father had fallen ill. She said she was going to follow her dream and then her letters stopped. I heard her father died a year ago. Listen, I don't know why she was eavesdropping on us but she isn't working for Rusteel or Zhen Su."

Pendleton stared down at Timothy.

"I'll be the judge of that."

With that he pushed open the door and walked back into the room. He pulled the sheet open. Sonia was sawing through her ropes with a small pocket knife. She looked up at them like a deer caught in headlights. Pendleton spun her around and sat on the bed to face her.

He took the knife from her hand and stabbed it into a crate beside them. He stared into her emerald eyes. Neither said anything. They just stared.

Why doesn't he ask her anything, Timothy thought to himself.

"Can I go yet?" She finally asked.

Pendleton turned around and looked at Timothy then back at Sonia.

"No...no I don't think so. Ya see, Sonia I would really like to know why you were eavesdropping on our conversation."

She looked to Timothy for support. He met her gaze but then looked away.

"I...I had heard about a breakout at the prison in the naval base and I got some information about where the escapees had gone. I followed it up and found this place and was listening in to see if it was you. I accidentally knocked over some boxes and I tried to escape."

"So there was no altierier motive?"

"No, what would it be?"

"Well I don't know about you Timothy, but I know if I was a sixteen year old girl and had heard that two criminals had broken out of a navy prison the first thing I would do would be to not go find them. So I'll ask again why you came to find us? Was it for the bounty that you could turn us in for?"

She sat in silence. It was Timothy's turn to stare into her eyes, she wouldn't meet his.

"Okay, I was after the bounty."

"Hmmm, I think we should give a tip to the officers at the naval base, because last time I checked bounty hunting was illegal on the South Sea."

"The rules have changed over the last few years."

"How so?"

"With the rise in pirate activity the navy can't keep up and let's anyone with a ship and a license to search for bounties."