"I'm not certain about that yet, Captain, but I think that there's something you ought to see?"
For a moment Hawk just looked at him, eyes narrowing slightly, as if appraising his worth. Silverfin produced what he hoped was a confident smile, taking a step backwards.
"It could be useful?"
Scowling, Hawk followed. Silverfin beamed, leading him to the side of the ship and hanging over the edge to point down towards the cloth. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, that isn't something that should normally be there?"
"Prisoners. Allies." Hawk breathed the word like a prayer - or an answer to one. “We'll overrun theHecatenow!” Then, he seized the front of Silverfin's jacket and pressed a hard kiss to his mouth. Before Silverfin could react to his good fortune, though, the captain was gone, calling out commands to his crew.
Silverfin leaned back against the rail, dizzy as he touched his fingers to his mouth. What a reward! Grinning, he danced back over to theOrca, vowing to himself to be useful much more often.
The next hour passed like a dream. Silverfin tucked himself out of the way between some crates and rigging on the deck, watching as everything valuable was transferred from theHecateto theOrca,including her munitions and the formerly-imprisoned pirates who had happily joined Hawk’s crew upon their rescue. Finally, their prize was set aflame in the waters.
Another sacrifice to please the merfolk, Silverfin thought, satisfied. But before he could congratulate himself on surviving his first bit of pirating, shouts sounded in the darkness alarming them to a new sail on the horizon.
“What the hell is going on?” Hawk snapped as Hank hailed him from the deck of theOrca.
“It's a Spanish naval ship, Captain!”
Ruiz, huffing and puffing as afforded a man his age, clenched at the railing. “She's gaining fast,” he exhaled. “Your orders?”
What a rotten bit of luck! Silverfin could practically hear Hawk’s teeth grind themselves down, as he huddled in his hiding place, unable to take his eyes off the captain.
“We can outrun her. Get us underway!” Hawk shouted. The winds ruffled the captain’s hair and billowed his coat behind him like the wings of a giant stingray. Had the Red Pirate King ever looked so magnificent, so handsome as in this moment of triumph?
But instead of triumph, Hawk's next cry was one of dismay. "What the hell is that?"
Silverfin jumped from his hiding place to investigate Hawk's new cry, darting to the rear of the ship. A large chunk of wood dragged in the water from the side of the ship, tangled in their ropes, flashing black and white in the darkness. One of the pieces of the destroyed ship was following them, like the vengeful ghost of theHecateherself.
"That'll slow us down two knots or more, Captain!" Ruiz called out. "She'll catch us in no time!"
Cut it free, then. Silverfin touched the knife at his belt to double-check its presence, then started to unwind a coil of rope from its pegs against the rail without hesitation. He was quick, he could be over the side in a moment, and even with these biped legs he'd be better in the water than any of the pirates could ever dream of being. He could help; he could be useful again.
Maybe he could even earn another kiss in reward.
He could see Hawk already climbing over the side, as Hank scaled down to the piece of debris. Both pirates frantically set to work sawing through the ropes, but Silverfin could tell it was no use; the pinch point was in the water. He grit his jaw, tying the end of the rope around his waist firmly. He could help. He swung his leg over the rail just as a boom of thunder sounded in the distance.
No, not thunder.
Cannons. The Spanish were firing.
"Oh shit!" A voice yelled out, just as chaos erupted around them. Cannonballs punched holes in the side of theOrca, splinters of wood flying through the air as men dove for cover. Silverfin made a split second - and possibly unwise - decision and let go of the rail, falling from the side of the ship and into the sea below, the dark water closing over his head.
He was at the ropes in an instant, sawing through the knots that dragged theHecate’s debris in their wake. He was pulled in one direction by the rope tethering him to theOrcaas the remnant drifted away, caught in a different current.
"Man overboard!" he heard Hawk call from above as he surfaced. A rush of pleasure suffused Silverfin's heart. HadHawk been watching him? But before he had the chance to give in to his romantic ruminations, another head surfaced not far from him, a flash of white shirt in the water.
Around his waist, the rope that attached him to theOrcajerked taut. Silverfin had no time to congratulate himself for his clever forethought, however, as the ship under full sail started to drag him along after it. Hank had also been shaken free, but Silverfin managed to lunge through the water and grab hold of Hank as they passed each other, clutching tightly at his torso as the pull of the ship submerged them in its wake.
In his arms, Hank struggled, trying to free himself, and reminding Silverfin of the biped's lack of gills. He kicked towards the surface, trying to push him upwards. "Grab hold of the rope!" he yelled, despite not knowing if the other man would hear him through the rush of the water. A powerful yank pulled him upwards, and as they surfaced again, he caught sight of men at the stern, hauling back on his rope. Soon they'd be back on board. All he had to do was hold on.
He kicked against the water, heaving a sigh of relief as Hank managed to pull himself further forward along the rope, arm muscles bulging even more than usual. They were almost to the back of the ship, almost to safety.
Suddenly, in the wake behind them, Silverfin caught sight of something glistening in a flash of sun. Something far more dangerous than Spanish cannons: an all-too familiar triangular dorsal fin.
Shit. MotherfuckingSharks.
The only thing in the ocean that ate more sealife than merfolk. And ate far more than sealife.
