“Hide the cage! Hide the cage!”

Hordes of pirates run from port to land board, the loud noise of their boots alerted the foreign boy.

“Cannons! Cover!”

Ten felt a strong pull from his wrist, and fell to the wet floor, hiding beneath the stairs that led to the rudder room. A big cannon ball shoot from one side to the other of their ship, breaking the moldy railing, making the ship turn violently to one side.

The yells of the captain in that yet foreign language, the ferocious metallic sound of swords, the screams of pain and anger coming from pirates from both ships, all of that flooded his ears so much he was starting to feel dizzy.

A second cannonball shoot, making a huge rip on one of the smaller sails, making the Captain groan in anger. He shouted something Ten didn’t catch, but suddenly everyone was standing up again, and so did he, moving like a zombie behind them. The quarter master threw a big leather bag, and more swords scattered on his feet, and everyone began taking one, pushing him side to side.

Only one was left. The biggest one.

Ten wrapped both of his small hands around the grip and prepared himself to lift it.

“Okay Chittaphon, you can do this”, he mumbled to himself, “Come on, grraaahh!”

With a roar and all of his might, he tried lifting it once, but he failed.

“Ugh!!”

He tried again, and again, and again, but the heavy sword wouldn’t unglue from the floor. He heard heavy steps running around again, and the grunts of battle and curses all around him weren’t helping at all. He was getting more and more nervious, and this stupid, big sword…!

He heard the Captain screaming again, but this time something familiar. His name!

“Ten…!”, his head whipped to the old man, his hands lever leaving its grip. He was talking to him, giving him orders. But what was he saying!? Ten couldn’t make out a word.

 Oh no! He was getting angrier! Ten tried to lift the sword even more desperately, with all of his power.

He suddenly heard the captain call other man. And then, he finally understood what he was saying.

“Slug! Take Ten to the hold! For all beasts sake, who let the eleven year old in the battle!”

Suddenly, he felt someone lifting him and putting him on his shoulder. The bones of the man, Slugthroat, were digging on his stomach as he ran, making him want to vomit. He saw how the man opened the small trap door and ran down the stairs.

Roughly, the man let him fall to the floor like a ragdoll.

“Stay here, yes? Stay!”, the man told him, before ruffling his hair, and rushing back upstairs.

The door closed with a strong bang, and it was only then that Ten let himself fall on his back.

He wanted to cry, he wanted to puke, he wanted to run out of the ship and throw himself to the sea. But no, he couldn’t. This was his life, now. He had to get used to it. He was a pirate.

He felt his ragged breath making his small chest going up and down, making him pant, and he tried to focus on it and try to avoid thinking of whose scream of agony was that.

He looked around, and for the first time since he arrived in the ship, he felt safe in the big place that was the hold. There were wooden boxes scattered here and there, some of them tied to the main posts, but it was an overall big, dark, smelly room. The only light that came in was the one that filtered through the bulls-eye.

He was trying to control his breath again, in-out-in-out, when he heard something.

“Hey! You…!”

Ten sat up in panic, as he looked around. W-what was that?! Had some pirate broken in...?!

“Hey! I’m here!”

Ten finally found the source, and had to blink twice.

It was… a boy. A boy about his age, sitting in a small, cramped cage, gripping the bars, and staring right to him with a determined look. His hair was dark brown, and his skin had a slight tan, but he seemed maybe a bit taller than him.

The boy said something else in a really soft, nice voice, but Ten didn’t catch it. Instead, he crawled towards the cage, his fear completely replaced by curiosity.

“Ah?”, he muttered, as he took a hold of a bar, as well.

The boy talked again, but Ten didn’t understand it. He could have made out some words, maybe, but his accent was so… So weird. So smooth. The boy began gesturing, and gripped a rope that had been tied around where a lock should have been. It was then that Ten understood that the boy wanted him to break it, and open the cage.

A part of himself told him he shouldn’t because the captain hadn’t allowed him to; but an even bigger part was very, very curious about him. He wished he knew more Korean, as so to ask him why was he there. Had he stolen something? Was he a slave? The other ship’s Cabin, maybe? But then again, why was he on a box?

He couldn’t leave him there, though. He was just his age. He wouldn’t want to be in a small box, either.

Patting on his pockets, he found his small dagger, and cut the rope in a swift move, opening the lid and stepping back to let the boy walk out.

“Thank you!”, he heard the other say, as he stretched out his long arms, feeling his bones crack. Then, he lifted them again… but towards Ten.

Huh?

“Please!”, the boy said, once again, his gesture turning more impatient. Was he… Was he asking Ten to lift him? The boy groaned, and lifted himself until he was sitting on the border of the box, his legs together in a weird girly way. He tapped his legs, and shook his fingers, as if saying ‘no’.

“My legs… don’t… work!”, the boy spoke slowly, again.

Oh, okay. Ten understood that. He walked back next to the box, and passed an arm on his back, and on the back of his legs, and he lifted it. He felt the other’s arms instantly wrapping around his neck, pressing himself against Ten’s chest, and he had to fight the strange urge to blush.

Ten was surprisingly strong… Or, er, well, maybe the boy was surprisingly light, more like.

Once he was in his arms, though, he had no idea of what to do. Should he leave him sitting somewhere? Take him to the deck? No, he would be caught again, there! And both of them would be in trouble!

“Water! Water!”

Huh? He was thirsty?

“Water!”. Ah, no. He saw his finger pointing to the bulls-eye, towards the sea. So, maybe he had a boat waiting for him there? Yes, that was probably it.

Ten nodded vigorously, and began walking up the stairs. He opened the tramp a little, his foxy eyes looking around, before deciding everyone was still too busy fighting to notice them.

He ran out, as fast as he could, and sneaked behind the Captain’s cabin, which was like a big room placed right on the deck. He followed the railing, sticking to the wooden walls as much as he could, trying to avoid looking at the bloody fight as much as he could. The other boy just seemed to be smiling all along, looking at the skies and towards the sea, saying something about how much he wanted to see them.

Once they got to the stern, he stopped walking and got closer to the railing with the boy still on his arms, as he waited for something like a boat to appear.

But instead, he felt a sharp nod coming from the boy and him letting go of his neck, trying to balance himself out of his arms.

“No!”, Ten screamed, and he secured his grip on the boy even with more strength, walking back against the wall. “Are you crazy!?”, he felt the words he had heard many times from his Captain falling off his tongue.

The boy frowned, and spoke fast, sounding a bit annoyed, but Ten stared at him, clueless.

“Water, water!”, he began making swimming motions with his arms. The Thai got the point, but was unsure. Leaving him, a kid like himself, to swim on his own to shore in the middle of nowhere? That was suicide!

But the boy insisted, and he heard the battle starting to come to an end, so he could do nothing but nod, and walked back to the railing, relaxing his arms, and closing his eyes.

He heard a huge splash, and he bit his lip as he slowly opened his eyes.

A mass of bubbles and foam had formed where he had fallen. He counted the seconds, ten… twenty… thirty, but the boy wouldn’t appear back on the surface. Oh Lords. He felt tears starting to build on the corner of his eyes, and he bit his lip again, until…

A head whipped out of the water, water splashing everywhere. It was him! He was alive!!

But… W-what!?

Instead of his brown mop of hair, bright orange and blonde wet locks of hair curled around his forehead. His skin looked pale, now, paler than a lady’s. He saw his big smile once again, but some of his teeth seemed… Sharper?

The boy lifted his arms to him, saluting him, as he yelled a huge “Thank you!!”

Ten was speechless.

The boy shouted something else, but he didn’t catch that, either.

And then, he turned and started swimming away.

Swimming away with a long, teal, scaled tail.