[CENTER][h1][color=B3ADAB][b]CATHERINE CORIANDER[/b][/color][/h1][/center][hr]Lordian grit his teeth, the cries of his men audible above the winds. He himself had found his foot snagged in a grass woven snare not far from their boat. His caution had slowed his step, but he was not the only one running into trouble. While it had all the makings of a childish prank, it revealed one important fact: they’d been found. By who was the next question, and it wasn’t one Lordian had an answer for. They hadn’t even made it partway to the town: it was the Crumble Pirate’s biggest failure yet.

As Lordian pressed forward, the shouts subsided. “Men, on meh!” he cried several times against the wind, waiting for the follow up. Only one joined him, and the bearded man wasn’t one of his. Burnet moved forward, swinging his staff out. Lordian met it with his sword, the rain shuddering at the clash. Lordian balked, while Burnet remarked, “Oh, you must be the captain.”

Gritting his teeth, Lordian whipped a pistol out. Burnet twisted his arm, smacking the man in the wrist, weapon dropping from his grip. Lordian pulled back his weapon but Burnet stepped in, jabbing him with an elbow. Stumbling backwards, Lordian was doing all he could to gather his footing before Burnet stabbed his staff forward. He could feel a cracking sound throughout his body as some of his ribs went. He felt the ground leave him as he shot backwards, crashing into a tree. Weapons well out of reach, he tried to get up but his whole body roared against him. In seconds, Burnet had the butt of his quarterstaff against his throat. Scenes flashed through his mind. The flames, the screams, the blood; as his hometown, one not so different from this one, was destroyed. On a ship built from the remaining structures, they’d set out. They hadn’t gotten help when they needed it, so they elected never to help anyone but themselves. A snarled erupted from his throat. “We were onlehy tryin’ to live.”

Burnet rapped him on the head. He didn’t have anything to say back. He didn’t know the depths of the man’s pain he got a brief window into through his last expression before unconsciousness, he just knew that the people of this village were trying to do the very same thing.

---

Coriander only barely saw in through her tears, her attention grabbed when Horace yelled out in shot as a dart struck him in the neck. A flash struck him, tackling him to the ground. His sword clattered down, useless, while his other arm was trapped beneath his body. [color=B3ADAB]“Haku!”[/color] Coriander cried out, tears flowing.

“Bastard!” Horace cried out, mouth stretched as he pushed the word out with all his might, elongating it as long and loudly as possible. The men on deck stopped what they were doing, if not then they would right after when gunshots started to ring out. Horace had pulled the trigger on the gun stuck under his body, and blood spattered on the wood as a bullet tore through.