Chapter 10 — A Pair of White Lion Guards

The captain of The Phoenix stood on the bow of the ship, looking through a spyglass at the distant shore, where two island-dwellers had disappeared into the forest. Captain Lau lowered the scope and clenched his jaw. 

“Luhan!” he shouted, and the First Officer appeared at the captain’s side, cowering as he held onto the map.

“Aye, sir?” he said softly. The captain turned and grabbed the boy by the clothes, shoving the spyglass into the boy’s hands and forcing him to drop the map.

“Look there, boy!” the captain shoved Luhan against the rails of the ship. He fumbled with the spyglass, lifting it shakily to his eye. “What see you there?”

Luhan looked through the glass at the shore. “Um… a camp site, sir.”

The captain picked up the map that fell and pushed it at the First Officer. “Perhaps you’d like to explain how those two found our island?” Captain Lau demanded. 

“I don’t know, sir, they must have found it by accident,” Luhan answered, looking down at the map. “I studied every map I could find, this one wasn’t on any of them—,”

The captain pulled his sword from its sheath and Luhan jumped back on instinct. He was grabbed by the collar once more, and the captain shoved the hilt of his sword against his chest. 

“If any of the plunder has been stolen,” Captain Lau threatened. “It is coming out of your share. Assemble a team to check on the bunker. And bring me those two.”

When the captain let go of the First Officer, Luhan stumbled backwards and fell on his bottom. When he looked around himself, the rest of the crew bore witness to the humiliating situation. He grit his teeth together as he stood up and brushed himself off. 

“What are you all gawking at? What are you all gawking at?” he shouted, spit flying out his mouth. “The security of our bunker has been compromised, and you all stand and stare? You think you’re at the opera, now?”

Luhan started grabbing at random crew members, pulling them into the middle of the circle they had formed around him. 

“You!” he said, pointing. “You, and you! With me, we’re going ashore!”

“Where are the new boys?” Captain Lau shouted from the bow, and the crew looked up at the man. Out of the crowd of twenty or thirty men, two boys emerged. One short and one tall, both carrying mops. 

“Here, sir!” they shouted in unison before casting each other a dirty look. Captain Lau sized them up. After two of their deckhands fell behind on their last plunder, he had no choice but to pick up some fresh meat. He jerked his head in Luhan’s direction.

“Take them with you,” Captain Lau said. Luhan gave a curt nod before grabbing the new boys by the backs of their shirts. The rest of the men shoved a sword into Tao’s hands and a pistol into Kyungsoo’s. Then, they were shoved into the boat and lowered into the water. The two deckhands looked at each other, trying to hide the looks of excitement on their faces with expressions of murderous intent worthy of pirates of the Phoenix Flag. 

—

When the boat touched down on shore, Yixing and Xiaohe tried to run further into the forest. But they realized they couldn’t run any further without popping up on the other side of the more-or-less round island. They wandered around in the thick shrubbery before Xiaohe formulated an idea.

“Your Highness!” she shouted, lifting a foot onto a raised tree branch. “Into the trees!” 

“What?” Yixing said, adjusting the pack of bones on his back. When he walked back to where Xiaohe’s voice was coming from, she had already jumped onto a tree branch and pulled herself onto it. He looked up at her, grabbing and climbing, higher and higher into the tree. How she managed to et up there so quickly and so nimbly was beyond him. Yixing scoffed.

“You’re kidding me,” he said. Xiaohe looked down at the prince.

“Hurry up!” she shouted down. “They’re coming! Get up here!”

“Damn it,” Yixing whispered. He tied the sword to his hip. He jumped up and grabbed onto the branch with both hands. He grunted as he tried to raise himself up onto it. Xiaohe clenched her fists, watching the shore and silently begging the prince to climb faster. 

“Hurry, hurry!” she whispered. 

“You think this is easy?” Yixing said, just managing to get his leg over. But just as he was able to shift his weight onto the tree branch, he felt the load on his back lighten. The cloth had come undone at the bottom, a single turtle plastron had slipped out and fallen to the ground. 

His focus lost, Yixing didn’t hear the crackle of the branch. A second later, it snapped, and Yixing had his weight pulled out from underneath him. He hit the dirt ground hard, his lungs clearing of air upon impact. His stomach had fallen on the sword handle, and a hiss of pain escaped his mouth involuntarily. 

“Damn!” Xiaohe cursed, seeing him fall back to the ground. Without the branch, there was no way he could climb back up. He had just managed to get himself off the ground when he heard the crunching of leaves and twigs underfoot.

“Here! Here they are!” said a voice. In the gaps between the trees, there emerged three men with swords. Sprinting toward him. Yixing shot up to his feet. He looked up at Xiaohe in the trees, made eye contact for just a split second before deciding that he had to lead them away from her. The pirates were just a few paces away now. He took the sword from its sheath and bolted in the other direction.

“Your Highness!” Xiaohe whispered before slapping a hand over . Down below, she watched as Yixing disappeared and three men with swords chased after him. Xiaohe didn’t know what to do, but she began to climb down. She needed a very thick branch or a sharp stone, something she could use to defend herself and help Yixing. But as she made her way down the tree, she heard voices.

“This is my pistol! First Officer handed it to me, not you!” 

Two men emerged. One short and one tall. Xiaohe ducked behind the trunk, balancing herself on two forked branched. Below her, two pirates argued. Both had weapons.

“But you know that sword isn’t my strong point!” Tao shouted at Kyungsoo. “Take it! Come on, let’s trade!”

“There is no trading!” Kyungsoo yelled. “Will you go through life with this mentality, thinking you can just trade in bad stuff for good stuff? In life, we get stuck with things we don’t want!”

“How am I supposed to impress the captain if I’m stuck with a weapon I can’t use?”

“Not my problem!”

“Gimme that pistol!” Tao suddenly jumped on the shorter boy and tried to grab the weapon from his hands, dropping the sword to the ground. Xiaohe eyed the discarded sword. Without thinking, she jumped from her lof