Snippet #831510

“Aye, missy, but what you don’t know won’t hurt ya. It’s the weapons that do that, eh?”

“Stop giving me idiotic, no-good, shrouded in mystery, possibly-lying, answers!” A feisty redheaded woman screamed at another man with red hair. He cringed dramatically, but was seemingly unaffected by her tirade. Waving his hands madly, his eyes flashed from crazy to sane to crazy again.

“Don’t ask me trick questions and I won’t give out no riddle-dee-dee answers.” He grinned like a scoundrel, walking over to the side of his ship and pulling out a rusty, flimsy sword from the sideboards. The two were currently standing next to their ship, docked in a hidden cove near Suratan. The crew, nicknamed the Red Shadows, busily pretended to be at their work when one of the siblings looked their way. In truth, though, they had been at it for hours and all the work was done.

Iggy seemed to realize this at this point and frowned, spinning around to pull something out of his left boot while depositing the sword over into the water. He hopped in circles for a moment, eliciting a very confused crew, before pulling out a bag containing other bags. The redheaded woman scowled and snatched the bag from his triumphant hand, pulling out the other bags and handing two to each crew member, who had lined up obediently at her signal. “Remember, lads, ones for filling up for gold and the other’s for spending.” Indeed, one of the bags the Red Shadows were handed was empty, the larger one, and the smaller ones were filled with coins. “Now scat.”

They did, quickly plunging through a hidden path to the lush city.

And the woman was left alone to guard the ship, not counting the cook and other menial task-workers and the four assigned to guard. Her brother was nowhere in sight. Screaming in rage, she stomped onto the ship and climbed nimbly to the crow’s nest, pulling out a telescope to look for him. She was not a large woman – actually, she was smaller than her brother – but the size of her voice made up for that. Still, she didn’t really like heights. She climbed down reluctantly, planning on waiting until Iggy reached the city to scout for him again. Sure, he had excellent hearing, but she had excellent sight. He would be back before nightfall simply to escape the hubbub of nightlife – everything was better in the day.

The man, Iggy, grinned at his escape. He loved his sister, he really did, but sometimes playing the fool was best. Quickly, he unfolded a map from his sleeve, but only had a few seconds to glance at it before he heard another pirate crew come into port. These ones were not as smart as he was, pulling into the main harbor. They must’ve gotten lost. Already, the guards of the town were advancing upon the ship. A sly smirk played on Iggy’s lips as he made his way down to the cellar of an unobtrusive church.