The Escape

“Now,” shouted Jonas. He and his men had been waiting for the last signal from the harbor watchmen. They stopped to reload their muskets, which bought Jonas and his men a few seconds time. They charged onto the street in the direction from which they had come. Warning calls rang out from behind, but no one seemed to notice. “I thought you wanted to hightail it out of here at the first sign of trouble,” cried Jonas after Lamar.

“As soon as we run into trouble, I’ll let you know,” said Lamar with a grin.

Muskets fired loudly behind them and two of the pirates dropped to the ground with a thud. There was nothing the group could do for them, so they turned onto a side street and ran towards to harbor that began to loom in the distance. Three guards appeared in front of them and, as soon as they caught sight of the rapidly-approaching group of pirates, they drew their weapons. “Halt!”

But their orders were in vain, because the group was ready for them. Jonas had his pistol drawn and shot one of the guards in the chest at close range, while Lamar almost decapitated another guard with one mighty blow of his scimitar. They simply trampled the third and final guard to the ground. They reached the harbor without having lost a considerable amount of time.

“Francisco, Walter – loosen the ropes. HURRY!” Jonas bellowed at his crew, who were waiting for his command. As if a fire had been lit under their asses, they clambered for the ropes and began to unmoor the ship. The rest of the crew sprang aboard the ship as it pulled away from the dock. They heard cries behind them, as heavy cannonballs were making contact with the walls of their vessel. But alas the harbor guards were too late. Light-headed and breathless, Jonas sailed the “King of the Wind” out of the harbor. They had managed to escape!

Epilogue

David exited the tavern, swerving and staggering. The harbor stood before him, dark and peaceful as the ocean gently lapped against the shore. David whistled a jovial little ditty as he swayed onto the lane where his house was nestled. He almost ran head first into Lamar …

“Lamar! What are you doing here?” asked David in horror.

“We’ve been looking for you,” he replied coolly.

“We?!” David asked, already terrified of the answer. Just then, Jonas and Valyrion Pontar emerged from the shadows. David wanted to make a break for it in the opposite direction, but there were another six pirates blocking his exit.

“Where’s the fire, David," Jonas quipped snidely.

David knew that there was no way out. “Alright, so what happens now?” he demanded dejectedly.

“This is Valyrion Pontar. He’s the gentleman who was so kind to give us work … I think you remember the job?” Valyrion approached David and held out his hand.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. My boss will be thrilled.” Valyrion said as his face stretched into its horrifying version of a smile.

“Your boss … I am afraid I don’t understand,” David stammered.

“Oh, it’s really quite simple,” Jonas explained, “Valyrion’s boss is one of the well-respected leaders of one of the smaller trade houses. Assassinating the Great Five leaders would have improved our good man’s station in life, shall we say. But you saw fit to destroy those plans." Grinning, Jonas continued, „He almost had our heads for that, but I managed to convince him to let us find and hand over the real rat, which is precisely why we find ourselves here.”

All of the color drained from David’s face. “Wha … what are you going to do to me," he asked, shaking like a leaf.

“I intend on taking you to see my boss so that he can get some answers straight from the horse’s mouth,” Valyrion answered plainly.

In the meantime, they had shackled David’s hands and feet as he looked pleadingly from one stony face to another. “And when I answer all of his questions, will he let me go afterwards” David asked Pontar.

Valyrion placed his hand firmly on David’s shoulder. “Something tells me it won’t be that simple, my friend.”