Curador's Hunt

"Hoist the sail, you lazy bum, or we'll lose them!" Sephira shouted over the spray to Barry. She gripped the tiller tightly, making certain to keep on course. The pirate ship was starting to lose its speed, as the pirates wore thier slaves out. The only reason the Curador had been catching up was because of the large triangular sail. Sailing against the wind was hard, but Sephira had had her ketch outfitted with twin trianlge sails that made it capable of zig-zagging against the wind. These pirates had a single square sail, furled up against the main mast. Sephira laughed with the pleasure of the hunt. Soon, she would kill another pirate, ridding the world of another scumbag, and would be able to collect her payment. Then she could buy Barry a proper blade, if he let her. He needed it, after all the times he got captured for lack of a proper weapon.

"I'm on it, I'm on it!" Barry shouted back, struggling to keep his footing on the rocking floor. He dashed to the looming mast ahead of him and held on tight to it while pulling the rope to ease up the main sheet of the sail. He tried to adjust it to the best possible angle, catching as much wind as they could without them getting off track of their target, then raced back to Sephira's side, nearly tripping in the process. He brushed the hair out of his eyes and paused for a moment to catch his breath. "We've almost caught up with them," he said reassuringly to his comrade. "What's our game plan? Should I get out the ropes to tie 'im up or are we going to rush 'em?"

Sephira watched Barry as he pulled the riggings taunt. She smiled, he was a good helper. She supposed it came from being a slave of pirates for so long. She flicked her loose hair out of her face and focused on the enemy ship. She examained it. It was a large ship, with quite a few rails. The whole ship was taller than the Curador, so those railings would come in handy.
Sephira tacked to the starboard a bit to catch a breeze, then turned to the port, aiming to intercept the pirates further ahead. She turned when Barry approached her, then refocused at the task at hand. She chewed her lip. "Do we still have that grappling hook we stole from that pirate awhile back? It would come in handy for climbing up that ship." She would probably have Barry climb up first while she covered him with her bow, then follow him while he protected the rope.

Without a word, Barry quickly disappeared into the inside of the boat's cockpit. Noises could be heard as he rummaged and shuffled around a bit. Then he reemerged and triumphantly held out the prized grappling hook for Sephira to see. "I'm guessing we're going to swing this onto their ship and climb aboard the Pirate Express?" he said with a wry smile. "Just say the word and I'm on it."

Sephira smiled. Barry was always good at finding things. She looked over to the ship. They were now close enough that the grappling hook would be able to make it. "Make the end rope fast to the stern, otherwise we might lose it if you miss. Throw it when you're ready." She tied the tiller fast, then ducked into the cabin to fetch her bow.

Barry ran to the bow of the Curador so he was closer to the pirate ship's stern. He swung the grappling hook around for a bit, maybe careful calculations on where to throw exactly, then hurled it as far as he could. The hook part of the rope made a loud bang against the metal railings, causing Barry to flinch a little at the attention that could suddenly draw, before curling itself around the rail and clamping down tight. Barry gave it a good hard tug to make sure it'd stay put. Satisfied with the result, he turned back to tell Sephira but didn't see her anywhere on deck. He heard some loud angry shouting and saw that the pirates had already caught sight of him and the grappling hook attached to their ship. "Uh...Sephira?" he called, glancing around nervously. "I think they're onto us..." Still no response from her. She must have went to grab her weapon. He'd have to go across first. He tied the rope end to the bow of the Curador then taking a deep breath, swung onto the rope and carefully started to inch his way across to their target.

(I got bow and stern mixed up again, didn't I. Oh, well)

Sephira came out of the cabin with her bow just as Barry started across the rope. She quickly plucked an arrow from her quiver, dropped the quiver, knocked the arrow and fired. It flew across the gap between the ship and slammed into its target, a pirate who had been raising his sword to chop at the rope. Sephira knelt down and grabbed another arrow. She held her bow sideways in her right hand knocked the arrow with her left. She fired it, and quickly grabbed another. Each arrow she shot landed in its target, keeping the pirates away from the rope and Barry. She only prayed they didn't have any archers of thier own.

( Did you? I didn't notice so it must be alright D: )

Barry felt the rope teeter up and down from all the commotion and silently prayed that the rope would hold up until he at least got to the other side. Even though he'd done this once before during another hunt, it still made him feel a bit queasy. Thankfully he reached the other side without any injuries, much credit going to Sephira and her excellent marksmanship. He could always count on her to watch his back. He landed on the ship with a light thud and seeing that the area had been mostly cleared out of pirates thanks to Sephira's volley of arrows, he made an easy run towards the cockpit where he figured the leader would be. Ready to charge in, he yanked open the door, only to freeze in his tracks when he felt a sword press against his throat. Barry instantly recognized the person as the one they'd been hunting down and he was slowly forced to back against a post. From behind him he heard the sound of the underground compartment hatch opening and dozens more pirates pouring out.

It was a beautiful day at the sea, the sun was out, not many clouds, and the salty spray smelled heavenly to Marriner. He had been sailing for several hours, earlier he had gotten one of the best sales he had ever made, he had made thousands of coins and he was in a very good mood. When he was in the height of his happiness he heard angry shouts. Ugh more pirates. Marriner sailed toward the shouts only to see 2 ships near each other. Why can't they just be peaceful? With that thought he sailed right up to them and yelled "Come on!!! Just be friends! Why don't you come over and buy some wonderful items from my store!!"

Sephira put her bow down and started climbing the rope. She was fast thanks to years of practice. She planted her feet on deck and drew her sword. She sighed when she saw that Barry had, once again, gotten himself cornered with a sword to his throat. She quickly turned as she heard more pirates coming on deck. She scowled, and started fighting with them. She stole a knife off one of them and threw it at the pirate cornering Barry. She continued fighting, not even daring to turn her back to see if she had hit the pirate, though she had a strong feeling she had, if only in the shoulder. Barry would be able to finish the job and they could get away.

The pirate cornering him howled in pain at the knife sticking straight out of his shoulder blade and Barry took the chance to push him aside and pull out his rusty knife. With his eyes squeezed shut, he jabbed it forward, effectively stabbing at a soft fleshy area. When he peeked open an eye, he saw that he'd cut him in the chest. The knife came out with a sickening squelch and the big man came tumbling down to the ground, making some odd gurgling sounds. Barry immediately placed the weapon back inside his pocket, doing his best to ignore his flip-flopping stomach, and ran back to Sephira who was still busy taking care of the others. "Okay, we did our job!" he said after helping her finish off another one of the pirate's lackeys. "Now let's get out of here before-" Loud angry shouts could be heard as the pirate's discovered that their captain had been killed. Barry turned back to see a bunch of pirates who were now kneeling next to their fallen leader with a murderous glint in their eyes. They stood up and slowly started walking towards them with their long swords in hand. Barry gulped and grabbed onto Sephira's arm, sweat starting to bead on his forehead. Suddenly a loud explosion went off and the ship lurched violently to the side, spilling in some water on the deck and causing Barry to topple over onto Sephira and hit his head against the hard railing. He scrambled back up on shaky legs, helping Sephira up with him, and wrapped an arm around the railing. "Sephira!" he cried, pointing towards a group of pirates who were starting to light up more cannons. "They're trying to bomb our ship!"

Sephira smiled grimly as she heard Barry kill the captain. She knew he didn't like to kill, but there were time's when there was no other choice. She stabbed a pirate straight through, then turned as Barry came over to get her. As she was turning, she saw the group gathering around thier captain. She grimaced as she saw they were angry. Dangerously, murderously angry. She turned to go back to the rope and climb back down to the Curador, when a boom rocked the boat. She was hurled to the side, Barry landing on top of her. She stood, Barry helping her up. She looked as he pointed to cannons. She scowled. "They're not blowing my ship up, not on my watch."
She turned and started shoving her way through the pirates blocking the way to the galley. She kicked and punched, aiming to get below-decks so she could deal with those cannons. Unfortunately, there were too many pirates, and even though they were confused at her pushing them aside, they were too burly to just shove out of the way. She realized this pretty quickly. She glanced around, hoping to find some other way, then saw the wheel. It was too far away from her, but... "Barry! Take the wheel! Turn this boat to the starboard, we'll tip the cannons away!" Hopefully the cannons weren't tied down.

Barry looked where Sephira was looking and saw the wheel just a few feet away from him. With his speed, he quickly maneuvered past the other pirates, pushing and shoving them away as necessary, and grabbed onto the wheel. Before one of them could grab hold of him, he spun the wheel as hard as he could to the right, causing some of the pirates to tumble over board. The cannons slid to the edge of the ship but remained stubbornly on board. He moved the wheel to the left again to even out the ship, then gave the wheel another strong turn to the right. The ship lurched to the right again, spilling in water everywhere and causing Barry to loose his footing and fall to the floor. As he slid, he grabbed onto the railing before he could share the same fate as the other pirates and was relieved to see the cannons make a loud splash into the ocean.

Sephira slid a little as Barry moved the wheel. She stabbed her sword deep into the planks of the deck and held on, knowing that would keep her from falling over-board. She slid some more as Barry steered to port, then again when he steered starboard again. She gained her feet again as quickly as she could, then looked over at Barry. He was hanging from the railing, about to drop into the water. She grabbed a line, pulled her sword out of the deck and sheathed it. Then she ran over towards him and grabbed him. She then started heading back to where the Curador was still tied fast to the pirate ship. "We ready to leave? Or do you need to say good bye to your friends?" she teased.

Barry scoffed, already grabbing onto the rope and testing its stability. "Friends indeed," he muttered, crawling his way through to the Curador. When he got close enough, he jumped onto the ketch. "Oh blech...the floor is all wet..." He looked over at Sephira and called out to her, "Careful when you're jumping on board! The deck is slippery and you might fall!"

Sephira smiled as Barry jumped onto the Curador. She untangled the grappling hook and used it to swing over to the Curador. She almost missed the ketch, hitting her right calf against the edge. She gasped and winced. She pulled herself on all the way, then rubbed her leg. She grumbled, that would leave a bruise. She limped over to the tiller and steered them away from the other pirates. "Where to now, Barry? Any place you want to visit before we head over to Managa and collect our bounty?"

Barry noticed Sephira's limping and pulled out a small piece of cloth he had in his pocket. He dipped it in some water, squeezed out the excess, then handed it over to her. "Here, hold this against your leg," he said. "It'll help stop a bruise from forming and make it feel better. Warmer water would work better, but seeing as to how we don't have any around..." He shrugged. "You should sit down and elevate your leg, too. It'll heal faster." He flustered a little when he realized how commanding that sounded. "Uh, I mean...if you wanted to...that is..." Quickly trying to change the subject, he said, "Other place? Well how about the Pirate's Cove? Even with the bounty money, we'd still be a little short on funds for food and water. So maybe we could do another raid? If you're feeling up to it?"

Sephira draped the clothe over her leg. She hid a smile by reaching up to flip her loose bit of hair out of her face. She liked it when Barry mother henned her. Most people didn't but she liked it. She had never known her mother, which was probably the reason why.
Sephira thought a minute. "If we're going to come up short, we might as well." She tried to sound as upset, but in truth, she loved raiding the pirates. The only reason they didn't do it very often was because Barry was a little skittish of the killing that often was involved. She leaned on the tiller to help keep the wieght off her leg and set a course for the Pirate's Cove.

Marriner watched the battle with fascinated eyes, he was usually a pacifist but this actually looked kinda fun.He couldn't believe that he was thinking that but he was fascinated by the tactics of the bounty hunters. So he made the decision, he sailed up to the ship and yelled out "Hello there! Can I join your lovely crew??"

Barry heard a shout coming from overboard and peered over the edge to see an older looking man calling out to them. He apparently wanted to come along. He was at a loss of what to say. Not many people had asked to join them. His ship looked like it had a lot of things though, so maybe the guy would come in handy? He turned to Sephira and gave her a confused look. "Hey, there's a guy down there that says he wants to join us. What should I tell him?"

Sephira considered a minute, then answered. "Tell him to bring his ship about. Then go aboard her and check her and the captain out. If they seem ship-shape to you, we'll invite him over for supper and decide then. Oh, and make sure to bring a line on board with you. Tie her fast to the Curador, I don't want him to try and make a get-away on us." She trusted Barry to make shrewd decisions. She also knew he had the better voice. And the better leg, she added rufefully, as her own throbbed.

Barry nodded and turned back to the person in the ship. "You there!" he called out, leaning over the railing. "Bring your ship closer to us if you've nothing to hide and I'll see if you're fit to come on board the Curador." He grabbed a rope and started knotting it on the railing. Once the guy got closer and allowed him to jump into his ship, he'd tie it there as well.

Marriner nodded, and brought his ship slowly about, making it parallel with the Curador.

Barry grumbled a little, muttering about how parallel didn't actually mean close. He took a deep breath and dove into the water, swimming towards the other ship. He resurfaced and hoisted himself up onto deck, remembering to tie the other end of the rope onto Marriner's ship. Then he walked over to him, ready to start the interrogation as per request from Sephira. "So," he began, trying to use his most stern voice. "You want to join us, huh?" He gave the guy's ship a quick glance. "I don't see anyone else on board. Are you the captain of this vessel?"

Sephira kept the ketch sailing towards Pirate's Cove. She had lashed the tiller in place, then limped over to the mast and lowered the sail to half mast. She limped over to one of the rails and sat down, stretching her leg across it. The great thing about a ketch was that it needed very few people to man it. She watched as Barry toured the boat and questioned the man aboard. She placed her other foot on the rail and her arm across it. She swayed as the boat bobbed. Up, down. Up, down. The spray dampened her slightly and she smiled. She always felt at home where she could taste salt in the air.