El Condor Pasa

Her body was as tense as her psyche. She felt as if she was coiled up and ready to strike at any moment. But she couldn’t do anything if the man with the knife to Jace’s neck decided to act. She wouldn’t get there was enough. So she had to do something else. She had to play along. She had to pretend.

Wren would have liked to think she was a decent liar. She tended to avoid talking rather than outright lie, but in their line of work, that wasn’t always an option. Jace did a great job playing along, to his credit. She didn’t know how good he was at lying when he wasn’t drunk and boasting, but he was so convincing, even Wren believed that heartbroken kicked-puppy look on his face. “See? He admits it. What kinda treasure hunting pirate has as little pride as that?”

Circus friend? Were they talking about Yiran? Wren remained deadpan, not giving any real reaction as she shrugged. “Girl can’t have a hobby?”

They were almost buying it, but not quite. Wren furrowed her brow, her mothers’ wedding rings as always hung on the chain around her neck, tucked under her shirt and jacket. Take what they can get wouldn’t be applying to that, or to her knives. “Touch me without my concent and you’ll lose a hand.”

But before they could test Wren’s words, the navy showed up. Wren followed Jace’s lead, a swift kick to the shin of one of their would-be attackers and a hard shove sending them tumbling into a pile of empty wooden shipping crates and fishing gear. “Run!” She said, with equal desperation, practically dragging Jace along with her as they sprinted towards the Spectre, ducking through some other piles of crates and stands that sold various fish, hoping they’d lose those pursuing them.

As soon as Jace’s fist collided with the mugger’s nose, and made significant impact, Jace recoiled, emitting a small cry of pain, which was actually quite familiar to most members aboard the crew. He shook his hand up and down, and made a face between that of discomfort but also shock, as if he wasn’t aware of the agony that came with punching a hard object. At the same time Wren had cleared a path for them, with a swift kick and a hard shove, and Jace looked up just in time to find himself practically being dragged by the collar to safety. Or at least towards the Spectre, whether or not that was the safest option at the moment, due to the growing forces of navy men also heading in the same direction. Having been propelled forward Jace and Wren eagerly began to run ahead of the thieves and the officers which Jace had happened to attract along the way. 

“Oh boy, all I had was a few drinks…What’s with all the uniforms?” Jace huffed, his eyes scanning the mini war raging in the distance, between the pirates and the navy. He wasn’t sure what would have caused such a violent reaction from the local authorities, but there was no denying the festival was over, at least for the crew of the Spectre. 

“Aww, c’mon. Dragons!”

“Probably nap. It’s hard to concentrate if you’re tired.”

“I just want to be remembered. You know, publish something, for posterity. Jace Helly, The Adventures of The Spectre crew!”

“Oh, well, the uh, their voice. You know, the way they talk, and what they talk about.”

“It’d be great if I could be less scared, and more, you know, brave...”

“Paper and pencil to keep? Because I’d probably save them until I had something worth writing down. Pencils are sacred, I keep losing mine.”

“Practicing my swordsmanship, but who am I kidding, I’ll never be as good as, I don’t know, say, Quartermaster Larking?”

“Routine? Uh well, I definitely wake up in the morning. I comb my hair, you know, get dressed. At night I read, work on my notes, translations. Then I go to bed, if I haven’t fallen asleep on the desk already.”

“Weaponry. Not so much what they’re used for, but uh, their design, what culture they reflect, their evolution, it’s fascinating really.”

“Really?! I mean, oh... Well, I’m no expert myself, that’s for sure. I don’t- I don’t know, you’re probably not jealous, or worked up, but then, why would you ask?”

“My satchel, and really, I’d probably be carrying it already, so I’d grab any books I could along the way. The Telvian books especially, they’re a gold mine of information. And there are more hidden in the Temple that we know of. Who knows? Maybe I could form an expedition… Or at least inform someone back in Namdle City, who will.”

“Nothing special, just your general run-of-the-mill fears, I think. Maybe, bed bugs? Are bed bugs unique?”

“Just being alive and well; waking up, with a breathe in your body. But I don’t think anyone who lives aboard a pirate ship takes their life for granted, anyway. I mean, you’d be a fool if you did.”

“Absolutely, no more Swamp Beer for me.”

She wished someone else was here. Anyone else. Yiran who could make the rooftops seem like a regular old plush carpet as she walked across it with such ease, Alonso and his aim, Dax and the kind of attitude that would probably send anyone who was following them running in the other direction. But none of them were around. There was nobody left to take the responsibility of Jace’s life off her shoulders. There was just Wren. If anything happened to him, it would be on her head.

There was no time to relax. Her breathing remained curt and tense, her chest tight, and her body on high alert. Even when they made it to the docks, she couldn’t just let her guard down. The ship was within view, and she finally just about let herself take a deep and calm breath. It looked like they were home free. She was going to find Anna and throw her arms around her. “We’ll tell them. If they don’t already know.” The naval officers hadn’t exactly made too much effort to hide. They were all in uniform.

But it wasn’t them that Wren had to worry about. Her body stiffened again as someone approached them, knife in hand. Instinctively, she reached for her own, but she was outnumbered. Jace didn’t have a weapon, and there were three of them. “Treasure?” Wren repeated. Was this why they had come after him? “I don’t know what you heard, but there’s no treasure. We just came from Telvi, and it was all sand and sea-monsters. We’re here to repair our boring old ship and go back to delivering cargo.”

One of the gang glared a hole through Wren.

“I don’t believe you.” Their weapons were drawn now too.

“Yeah?” She answered, her voice cold and calm. “Who’s more believable? Me, or some idiot who was so drunk he threw up all over himself?”

She looked from face to face and could see them all contemplating. She continued. No use letting the train of thought go off the rails now.

“Jace just likes to look important. He’s just a guy with a room full of dusty old books. Aren’t you Jace?”

At Wren’s words the knife threatening to cut his neck open, seemed to ease up slightly, not that Jace had noticed really. He was looking at Wren. True enough, after the pie eating contest, Jace had spent the next day hiding himself from the rest of the crew, attempting to salvage any pride he had left. If he had been trying to prove himself to the crew, he’d failed miserably, and Wren’s words only reminded him of the fact he wasn’t fooling anyone. At that moment, she turned to him, and Jace could only nod, shoving the thoughts to the back of his head. There were clearly more important things at hand. 

He gulped, “Yeah, yeah…” he babbled, his head nodding yes and shaking no almost at the same time. “I read a lot of stories. They go to my head sometimes. I mean, that’s what everyone tells me... First time drinking Swamp Beer, could you tell?” He laughed nervously.

“What about your little circus friend, from the Tavern yesterday? What would someone like her be doing aboard a cargo ship?”

“I-I don’t know, I... W-we didn’t even know she was that good, until we saw her perform.” His one good hand was raised in front of his chest, eager to get the burly man off him.

“Fuck it! Grab his bag. We’ll take what we can get, and check her too!” The slug man cut in once again, and Jace’s hand immediately moved to protect the bag he slung by his side, “Wait, you can’t!” If he had money he’d give it to them, if only to save the other priceless objects he kept by his side.

Just when all hope seemed lost the Navy turned around the corner, “Halt!” And that seemed to give them the distraction they needed to escape. Eagerly Jace punched the man closest to him with all the strength he could muster, and he could have sworn he heard something crack beneath knuckles, whether or not that was his own hand breaking or the man’s nose he couldn’t tell but he was eager to get as far away from both the robbers, and the navy officers who had finally caught up.