Island of Giants

Island of Giants was a strange but beautiful city from the outside. There were no walls to protect it against waves and the pipes went skyward. Even as I tilted my head back, it was hard to see where one pipe ended and a new one began.

Ships surrounded it, the sizes different. Sails were tied up, to keep them from moving even if they were anchored down. Row boats, coming and going, slipped through the silver waters.

My hands balled into fists as I turned from the view and at the crew.

"On three!" Romeo shouted as he stood before one of the many boats they were pushing to the sea. "One." He looked at the three others helping him. "Two."

They shoved, the white wood disappearing over the ledge. A splash followed as quickly as the boy's temper. He started bickering at them about waiting until he got to three.

Kipling stood at the next boat, pointing and laughing at Romeo. They were too far away to hear their soft voices, but from Romeo's rising tone, it was only a matter of time before they fought.

"Do they never learn?" Saul grumbled as he walked past me. "Get back to work. If you don't get those boats in the water in the next three minutes none of you will be joining us!"

Wiley and Lorena laughed from behind me.

"Romeo never learns," Wiley said as he tapped the metal railing. "It's a shame we're leaving this behind. I really liked it."

"We still have it for the next few days. Building a ship will take time," Lorena said.

I turned to look at the two navigators. They were looking at the city of pipes.

"Why is it called Island of Giants?" Violet asked as she jumped to sit on the railing, her feet kicking against the ground.

We were waiting for the boats to be lowered to the waters. Having been on the night shift, Saul gave the six of us a break. The navigators on the other hand, they were pinning their responsibilities on anyone willing to take the bait.

Which just happened to be Trubert, Juliet, and Bondi. The three were to easy for Wiley and Lorena.

"Gregor, you're from here, right? What's the story behind it?" Berawyn asked as she looked at the bald pirate, who was letting the sun hit his head. "Why the name and what's with all the pipes?"

Berawyn pushed pieces of blonde hair behind her ear as she looked around Semund. Her eyes were sharp, and narrowed slightly, but her expression always seemed sour.

Gregor looked up from the black wood in his hands. He stopped cutting into the piece that almost looked like a flute.

"They really hate pirates." He's words held no emotions, making him sound bored.

He looked back at the wood and continued to work on it once again.

Berawyn blew on a piece of hair. "Gee, didn't know that. Thanks oh so much for letting us know that this place hates pirates. Wouldn't have guessed it."

A crack of a smile formed on my lips as I shook my head at her. I turned, to look at the city as well.

"I hear that it runs in the same fashion that Carlisle did," I said causing her to become quiet. "The saylors who visited the bar liked to talk about it quite a bit. Only, instead of having high officials that took care of any crime, they look at another group."

I almost felt normal that day. As if I was my old self. Of course, I'm my old self. I haven't changed. I just need to act like it.

"But here, they hate pirates." My eyes went to the crew. "A good thing that we're all wearing saylor uniforms, right?"

Violet and Berawyn shared a look, before their eyes returned to me. Semund appeared unsure of what to say. Gregor, however, cracked a grin, showing that he was missing one of his front teeth.

No doubt from the fight he had with Captain Velwyn. There had been plenty of blood spill over that.

"Well, don't spare us the gore some details. What was Carlisle like? You ruined our chance of really getting to explore it." Gregor folded his hands across his chest as he waited to hear my answer.

I rolled my eyes at him. I really haven't changed if he was able to make me annoyed so quickly.

"You'd be the first to hang. Flat out. Though, we are close to the main islands where they rule." I looked at the pipe that went the furthest in the sky. "Rule with an Iron fist. Laws are consistently changing out here.

"What we know in Carlisle could be different here, because of how far the city is. We're the last to hear news. The last to know if a storm would brew. The last to know anything." Memories struggled to come foreword but I pushed them away as I looked at the pirates. "Good thing that a smuggler can get things quickly, else I would have been hanging like you sea dogs."

"So they hang us? Not that big of a surprise." Gregor looked at the city that continued to loom just in front of us. "We all knew what we were getting into when we took this ship and decided to come here. We're smart enough to let them know that we aren't pirates and that this ship isn't stolen."

"One would hope at least," I mumbled.

The seconds ticked as the sound from Romeo and the others once more floated to us. Only this time it appeared that our dear old Captain who didn't like work had came out to play. It was his words from last night that pushed me to act like my self.

Or my old self.

Since last night, when it seemed that he was accusing me of being in the league with the saylors hunting us. If I was, I wouldn't have helped them steal the ship that put the final nail in my coffin and promised me that the day I hanged was around the corner.

A shout followed before another splash hit the silver waves. My eyes were drawn to the cursing that appeared seconds later. I spotted Romeo swimming, his curses getting cut half partly as he bobbed in the water.

A whistle sounded, bringing the crew to silence and pulling our attention to the person who did it. My eyes fell onto the Captain, as he stood with on leg on the railing, a wicked grin on his face.

"We're going in now! Seven to a boat if you plan to go. More if need to be, but that's pushing the limit." He looked at the crew, with a look as if he saw us to below him. "If you get caught, we're leaving you to rot. We're not here to draw attention to ourselves and if you dogs can't get that through your head, you won't be part of my crew."

I frowned at his words, hearing the speech for the first time.

"This is a saylor city. Pirates are less than welcomed. Stay in pairs and if you can't, count on your stars that you don't screw up." He was repeating himself, but excitement laced his words.

He just wanted to rush through the speech it seemed.

"Says the captain who's going to be the one that gets caught," Gregor mumbled as he lend forward. "Can't go any place with Captain Velwyn."

I looked at him. "Why?"

Was he that bad when he went into a city? Was he that bad at the Going Sally?

Before Gregor couldn't explain, Captain words grabbed our attention as he grew serious.

"We're being hunted like a blue whale and that trick we did to get this ship, it's not going to work again. Be ready to move at any minute. Saul will be working on getting us another ship in the mean time."

I looked to find Saul, finding him standing not to far behind Captain Velwyn.

"Now let's raid a city!"

"Did he not just tell us to not bring attention to ourselves?" Semund shook his head as he looked at the captain as he continued, "I have a hundred Ryo that he gets thrown into a tank tonight."

"Tonight? More like the second we hit the docks. We'll be lucky if he doesn't blow our cover before we even make it off this ship," Violet said, the sound of someone jumping on the metal sounding.

I looked to find her standing now. Turning, I followed behind Berawyn as she started towards the rope ladder that was thrown over the side. Captain Velwyn was the first to go, with Saul shaking his head.

"Th' Cap wouldn' do that," Hahn said.

Pushing came from the other pirates as they stood around. Most had changed their worn and dirty clothing to play the act of saylor, though they had all made some sort of adjustments to it. Not all of the gray uniforms would be the mark of a saylor.

It shouldn't be the captain that they worried about when it came to getting caught.

"He would." A sigh escaped from Violet as she spoke once again. "Maybe we can make it to the island of pipes, but what good use is that? Velwyn is just going to fiddle with anything he can get his hands on and than we'll get caught. They'll know a bunch of pirates were able to sneak on in."

Silence stretched on as we reached the other. Kipling had just thrown a another rope ladder down.

"We're screwed but we might as well make the best of it," Gregor said as he went first. "Let's us enjoy our last nights--"

He was cut off as Kipling pushed him. Caught by the surprise, Gergor fell. The seconds stretched but no sounds of water splashing reached us.

"Did you just kill him?" Hahn as she looked over the edge. "Oh no, damn. He's still alive. Don't give me a thumbs up you idiot! Move the boat a little further from the ship."

Kipling grinned, as he looked over as well. "He was blocking the way. Besides, we have a doctor to help fix him up."

I scoffed. "He is not a doctor. More like a menace." Memories of being shot and old rags being pressed to my wound wrapped around me. "He's more likely to take us to Davy Jones' than fix us."

Kipling grin only seemed to grow. "Maybe. Come on. Captain Velwyn will only have our heads if we keep him waiting. Saul wanted all the boats to go together not to bring suspicion onto us. Over the railing or use the ladder but get going!"

His words echoed around, bringing many cheers. It surprised me what came next, though I should have expected the pirates to not be the brightest lot that day.

The excitement. The thrill of returning to a city.

I can get why it might make them act a bit crazy. Even I was going crazy at being on the ship.

The brush of wind wrapped around me, woos escaping them as the pirates ran for the railing. Over they went, their arms flaiing about, their joy being expressed.

Shouts came from Saul below but it was already too late. Most of them had gone over the railing and to the silver below. Kipling raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what about you?"

I looked over, to see most had landed in the water, with a few unlucky ones landing in the boats. Even without hearing them moaning and groaning about the pain they were going through, I could see it on their faces and how they held the part that hurt the most.

From legs to an arm, and some even hand their hands pressed to their stomachs. I didn't know how this crew was able to last as long as it had. It surprised other pirates hadn't already sank their ship or that the saylors hadn't been able to take their heads.

"I'll be taking the normal way down."

I looked at him, seeing as Kipling shrugged and waved at the rope. Releasing a sigh I began down, seeing that the boat I would be sharing with was Gregor, who was the only one that wasn't soaking wet. It rocked as I stepped on the wood, my hands going out to the metal ship to stop myself from falling in.

"That's seven of us," Wiley said, shaking his head.

Water went everywhere and even as I raised a hand to block it, I still felt the cold wetness. I sent him a look as I managed to sit down without sending the boat tipping.

Romeo and Violet sat on opposite sides, with paddles the length of their arms. They looked at each other, before the paddles when into the water and started to row us towards the two other boats waiting. Still two boats to go, before we could go to the city.

Waves knocked into us, but the two were able to keep us from knocking into anyone else. I looked around, not spotting either of the boys. Turning, my eyes scanned the ship, wondering if they were still there and didn't plan to join the rest of us.

It didn't take long before we started towards the city.

"Ten minutes," Wiley suddenly said as he looked up to the cloudless sky. "Even with us being this close, it will take ten minutes. More if we run into one of the boats rowing in to, and they try to talk."

"Why is that?" Juliet asked as she lent forward, her arms going to her knees. "Shouldn't it only take us five?" Water dripped out of her hair, and onto the white wood.

Wiley shook his head.

"Lorena," he pointed at the other navigator who had ended up in a boat behind us, being one of the few not jumping, "she said something was coming. A strange something. After jumping in the water, she knew what she meant."

"Somethings coming?" Violet asked.

Wiley nodded, as he put a hand in the water, tipping the boat slightly. "The currents, they've changed and the waves are getting smaller. Almost flat, but the wind that's out, that shouldn't be happening."

I looked, trying to find what he was trying to say. The waves looked as they always did.

"Just tell us if it's something that we need to worry about," Romeo snapped. "It wouldn't a storm, or you wouldn't be using too many words."

Wiley grinned.

"I have no idea what it is that's coming. Not one clue."

A shiver passed through me at his words. I looked at the water, wondering what dangers could be so close to the city. What were we about to find ourselves going into?