Where Loyalties Lie

Chapter 24 - The Phoenix

“Should we keep going or stop?” said the bare-chested pirate, one of Drake’s men.

Keelin thought about it, and came up with no good answer. With Drake and his Arbiter dog missing – it had been hours and more since they’d walked into the jungle, and neither of them had been seen since – it appeared that everybody accepted Keelin as in charge of the entire colonisation. Unfortunately, there were decisions to be made, and Keelin had no idea what the correct choices were.

The light, or the rapidly approaching lack of it, was the problem. They’d so far combed significantly less than half of the beach in an attempt to wipe out the monsters, and that left a whole lot more sand for them to hide beneath. If they kept going in the waning light, the teams would need torches to see, and even with those the task would be more dangerous. However, if they stopped now, there was no guaranteeing the creatures wouldn’t move around beneath the surface during the night, and then the pirates would have to start the task all over again.

Keelin mulled over the choice while those close by waited for him to make the decision. That nobody else offered an opinion only served to further indicate how impossible a choice it really was.

“Pull the teams back,” he said. “We’ll set up a camp just above the high tide line and surround it with torches. Send half the teams back to the ships for the night; no need to keep everyone here.”

“Why keep anyone here?” Smithe asked with a sneer.

“Because Drake might come back tonight, and if he does I want somewhere on the beach he can aim towards.”

“Aye,” agreed the bare-chested pirate. “Cap’n could come back.” It was almost a dare for Smithe to disagree, and Keelin truly hoped his quartermaster would. There was no easy way for Keelin to rid himself of the antagonistic fool, but one of Drake’s crew stabbing him seemed a decent solution.

“Well done, Smithe.” Keelin smiled. “You’ve just volunteered to sit first watch. You two will sit it with him.” He pointed at the bare-chested pirate and another of Drake’s crew.

“Anything I can do to help?” Drake’s first mate said from his position by the cook fire.

“I want twenty men here on the beach, a mixture from both crews, and the rest sent back for the night. No rum for anyone staying and weapons close to hand all night. A line of torches leading up to the edge of the jungle wouldn’t go amiss either, placed in a line that’s already been combed. If Drake does make it back tonight I want him to be walking a safe path.”

“Done,” the man said as he stood up, the firelight gleaming off his milky white eye. “You’ll be staying yourself, I imagine.”

“Aye.”

“Good. I’ll be heading back to the Fortune. You be sure to signal if Drake does turn up during the night.”

“You don’t seem too worried about your missing captain,” Keelin said as the man made to walk away.

Drake’s first mate laughed. “Don’t reckon there’s enough deaths even here on Cinto Cena to keep Drake Morrass in the grave.”