The Reign of the Pirate Queen

Chapter 2

Updated as of 1/16/2020 :)

His retinue scanned for threats, swords bristling. It took them a few seconds to realize that it wasn't the prince who was in danger and to look around for the source of the scream. A young woman was being dragged from the marketplace by a group of Takan warriors. The warriors were a fearsome lot, and carried long, sharp blades of their own creation that shone in the sun. The blades were a cross between the gladii of ancient times and the cutlasses of the modern day, and were the length of long knives. Leo had never seen anything like them before.

Come to think of it, he had never seen anything like the warriors either. They were taller and bulkier than the average Adrenian, that was for sure, and their choice of clothing was odd to say the least. They wore the skins of animals in various fashions, and yellowed animal teeth clung to string around their necks. When he squinted, Leo noticed some peculiarities to the teeth. Some of them weren't sharp at all. In fact, they seemed almost ... human. Leo's heart beat faster when one of the warriors took that moment to turn and bare his teeth at the prince, as if he were growling. That particular warrior wore a deep grey, almost black wolfskin atop his head and around his shoulders. His features matched his clothing, making the expression all the more intimidating.

Another scream from the Adrenian woman shook Leo from his thoughts. The Taki were on the move, dragging the defenseless woman toward their woodland village. The prince moved toward the woman, unbidden, and before he knew it, he had broken into a full sprint. His advisors and guards chased after him, yelling, but their words fell on deaf ears; the prince's mind was elsewhere.

After racing through a valley of grass up to their waists, Leo's party came to the crest of the next hill, and spotted the Taki kidnappers not a hundred paces from the treeline. "You must ..." Reginald panted, hands on his knees, "you must... not race... into battle... Your Highness. Let the guards protect the girl. We can even invite her back to the palace when she's safe and —"

"Oh piss off ya nelly. Tha trail'll go cold if His Highness runs off. Besides, he can handle 'emself, can't ye, lad?" Bas said, slapping the prince on the back as he spoke.

"Aren't you supposed to protect His Highness, not let him race into battle like a fool?"

Leo fixed him with a fierce glare. "You really think me a fool, Reginald? While we're up here dithering like ninnies, one of my subjects is being carted off to be tortured by our enemies. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to rescue her."

The prince didn't pause long enough to hear it, but a muttering of "Yes, Your Highness" sounded from everyone around him.

Twenty or thirty paces in, the trail nearly went cold, but another shriek and a young woman's voice shouting, "No! I'm not going down there! Stop —" followed by muffled yelling.

Leo changed direction and set off in earnest, his retinue following like hounds. A few minutes and several hundred paces later, the trail had gone cold again. The party couldn't hear any sounds from the woman, couldn't hear anything at all really. The forest had gone eerily silent. Sometime past, the birds had fluttered away, taking the sounds of the forest with them. Leo put his hand up to signal for them to stop, but Sebastian beat him to it.

On their captain's signal, Leo's guards stopped and tightened around their charge, swords at the ready.

A minute passed. Two. Three. Five. The guards paced anxiously, scanning the trees for movement. At ten minutes, they tried to retrace their steps, but although it was nearing high noon, the towering pines let in little sunlight. They could not find their way back in the darkness. Fifteen minutes passed. All but Sebastian relaxed their stances and loosened their grips on their swords ever so slightly.