The Knight and the Peasant [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 4

                                                              8 YEARS LATER

Captain Socarras Aguero stood at the helm of his ship, the Péchado's Beisur in Carabaí, or the Sin's Kiss in the Merchant Tongue. He was a rising pirate in the Caraíbes Isles; he had only raided five ships so far but had made large gains. It was enough to get him a nice price for his capture alive. However, the last time they had raided a ship had been three months ago, and his crew was getting anxious. So whenever his lookout spotted a lightly manned ship that seemed to carry the sigil of a minor house, he barely thought before giving the order to board.

The ship had no artillery and as they neared it appeared that the ship had only one knight and a few men-at-arms and its regular crew. Captain Socarras got his boarding crew ready and set up the crossbows in strategic positions to fire down upon the small crew. His men threw out grappling hooks onto the other ship and brought it in close before setting out long planks to board the ship.

Just as Captain Socarras was about to lead his men in a charge, the lone knight shouted, "Wait, wait! I have a message for you." He spoke in Carabaí, his accent one of the northern islands.

He considered it for a moment before raising his hand in a signal for his crossbowmen to hold fire. "Make it quick, knight," he snarled. "For I have half a mind to let my crossbows unleash upon you no matter what you plead."

"Oh I know you do," the knight quipped. "However, I must ask you something. Are you Captain Socarras Aguero? This seems to be the Péchado's Beisur."

"Yes," he answered. "I am."

"Well then, that is great news. I am Sir Gerard Elwyn, freelancer knight anointed by Her Grace, the Duchess Lilliana Florjes of Veroña . I am here to arrest you."

Silence settled over both crews. Then Captain Socarras began laughing. His laughter was loud and booming, it carried over both ships and his crew began to join.

"You think you can arrest me in the position you're in now?" he asked incredulously between bouts of laughter. "I would've thought the Freelancer himself would be smarter than this."

Sir Gerard Elwyn, the Freelancer. He was the most renown freelancer knight in all of the Caraíbes. He usually traveled with the Peasant, his companion, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Admittedly, he did feel a bit of fear at the fact that his crew was about to face off against the Freelancer, but he was outnumbered here and even the Freelancer could only stand against so many.

Captain Socarras saw some of his men take a few steps back in fear and recognition when they heard Sir Gerard's name. "Hold," he growled at them. "Don't be afraid. Think of the profit we can make; I'm sure the Duchess Florjes will pay a hefty price to get her most renown freelancer back into her hands."

Sir Gerard smirked. "I would hope so. If you do capture me, could you let me set the price? I have a feeling you would underestimate my worth."

"So quick to make a joke are you?" Socarras spat. "We'll see if you're so cheery once you're bound in iron chains." Some of his men laughed. Socarras looked at Gerard. He felt himself smile with interest. Here he was with the greatest freelancer in all of the Caraíbes. About to capture him. He was also slightly interested. "Tell me something about yourself, Sir Gerard. After all, we may be living in the same ship for a while."

Sir Gerard gave him a small, knowing smile. "Well, I don't really have much to say. But I can say that my enemies always seem to make the same mistakes over and over again. It makes it really easy to defeat them."

Socarras felt smug. "Well, it's safe to say that I haven't made such mistakes considering your current position. But what are these mistakes?"

"Well for one. . . they all think that I'm the deadly one."