Sword of Flames [Book I] - {#Wattys2017}

Chapter 16 - The Escape Plan

Chapter 16 - The Escape Plan

The pirates were still talking amongst each other. Although their voices sounded rather odd, the clicks of their tongues and the gurgled syllables, sporadically high or low-pitched, made her sure they spoke Abogat. In essence, they were stray Aboves.

Levana tilted her head in confusion at Zikarith. "What's that?" she said. "Is that the name of the ship?"

"It's the name of the pirate clan," he corrected. "They're one of the most dangerous who roam the Valuna Sea."

"Did you read it from a book?"

"Of course," he admitted with no shame.

Zikarith's neck extended so that his eyes could reach over the short walls of the ship. Her head flopped onto the large wooden square with a door. I wonder what's even in here, she questioned, looking behind her at the extension of the vessel.

The topic changed rather drastically. "This is really weird. There's no fleet or anything behind them. The whole clan is supposed to be three times the amount of people that could possibly fit on this boat." The girl's eyes widened as she heard the approximation; she scanned the area and noticed that three times as much would be over a hundred people.

"That many?" she validated. Zikarith gave her a strange look.

"What do you mean 'that many?' They're one of the smallest groups in the sea. The average consists of six hundred." Her jaw dropped and Zikarith noticed. "What kind of pirate groups do you have on Earth?" he asked with mostly disgust. Ignoring his question, Levana decided that it was time to actually try and get out of the trap before the pirates noticed their awakening. She tugged her arms to release them from the ropes, but they were tied so tight she felt that she restricted the blood from rushing to her hands even more.

"They tied this well," Levana speculated. "I can't get out." Between each word she tugged even harder than the last but to no avail. Her arms felt like they were going to explode from pressure any minute.

"They're not smart though," Zikarith whispered, using the little amount of wiggle room he had from his hands to pull out a small dagger. He began dragging the blade up and down the knot in order to split it open. And soon he was victorious; after rubbing his wrists to soothe the pain he started to untie Levana's rope. "Was I mistaken?" he asked rhetorically. "This cannot be Deserted Corpse. They would have thought to check our pockets."

Instead of using the dagger he untied her ropes manually, putting the weapon back in his pocket. The freedom the Earthian felt after she was released was indescribable. Mouthing an inaudible victory shout she saw their belongings near the pirates' feet.

"We can't leave without our stuff," Zikarith pointed out. "We have food and money in our bags."

Levana remembered the jewel that the king gave her that could summon an army with the click of a button. There was no way that she was going to leave that there. The retrieval of their things was an obvious must.

She thought about the protruding square behind her once again. Thinking about the fantasy stories she read, structures very similar to that one lead to a secret compartment full of weapons, money, or other pirate necessities; a storage room, one could call it. She felt her hand all over the material, her palm interacting with the sharp chips of the wood every so often. In time she touched a smooth surface in which she jiggled around. It was definitely a doorknob. Levana kicked Zikarith, whose eyes were glued to their things in longing, and he snapped out of his trance. He looked at her and she discretely pointed her finger at the knob. When he understood what she was trying to say, he shook his head.