The Legend Of Pit Page 14.

Chapter 2: Legends Of The Surface World.

Ike, Soren and Pit ran onto the sand and sped towards the ship, which was on its side with the bottom facing towards them. As they ran, they could hear people shouting to each other. “No! Move that over there! You, carry that! DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF????” The three warriors slowed down, edging towards the ship. As they got within reaching distance of the hull, someone suddenly noticed them. A large, swarthy man with a red bandana and an enormous, green-clothed chest was standing at the very edge of the ship, and he spotted them.

“STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU THREE.” He pointed a massively thick arm at them and roared out to his crew. “YOU LOT, GET AROUND HERE!” A troupe of pirates, six strong including the massive one ran out across the sand and lined themselves up opposite the three of them. Among them, most were pointing swords at the three travellers’ heads. However, one who was clothed entirely in green and who had a sword and shield slung over his back. He was wearing a long green hat, and pointed an arrow straight at Ike’s heart.

Ike looked at the young man’s face and wondered where he had seen it before… but before he could, the man shouted again. “WHO ARE YOU?”

Without anyone noticing, a young blonde woman poked her head over the upturned side of the ship and peered down at Ike, Soren and Pit. She called down to the large pirate, “They don’t look like trouble to me, Gonzo.”

With that, she leapt deftly off the side of the boat and landed in the sand with Ike, Soren and Pit. She drew the short sword at her waist and pointed it at Ike. “Who are you? What are you doing here? Why did you approach us? What do you know?”

She glared deep into his eyes until he spoke. “I am Ike, general of Gallia. This is Soren my tactician and Pit of angel land.” At these words, Gonzo started to laugh. “BWA-HAHAHAHA, Angel land??? Is this guy serious?” He continued to laugh, nudging the pirate next to him and so on until they were all laughing, all apart from the pirate with the bow, who looked at the woman with the blonde hair suddenly. The woman turned to gonzo and slapped him hard across the face. “Idiot! Have you paid no attention to anything in the last ten years???”

She turned back to Ike and nodded to him, flicking her hair with a hand. “I apologise for my first mate’s rudeness. He’s always been like that.” Ike shook his head. “No matter, I’ve dealt with worse. What happened to your ship? I guess that storm must have given you quite a beating, huh?”

The woman shook her head sadly, “I’m afraid it did. We were just sailing along as normal, avoiding the watchtowers and things, when out of nowhere this hurricane just swept in and picked us up. It’s happened before, would you believe, but we’ve never been grounded like this from one.” Her face fell, and she patted the ship.

Sighing, she turned back to her crew. “I’m afraid we have our work cut out for us, gents.” Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She closed her eyes, leant against the ship and folded her arms. With a low “hmm” sound, she opened one eye and looked at Ike. “I don’t suppose you three could help us, could you? You see, we were in the middle of something and we’d really rather get back to it.”

Ike raised one eyebrow. Why was it that people always asked him for help? He sighed and put his packs down into the sand. “I guess we could… Soren? Pit?” He turned to his allies and they shrugged. Soren looked the pirate woman directly in the eyes and said “I see no reason why not. What should we do, miss?”

She cocked her head to one side and smiled. “You know, I like you. Not many people have manners, out on the sea. Tetra is my name and it always will be.” at the sound of that name, Pit gasped. “You’re Tetra??? My liege…” He dropped to one knee. “I am sorry I did not recognise you sooner, please forgive me!” He lowered his head practically to the sand, and so did not see the look of shock and fury etched across Tetra’s face. The man with the hat tightened the bow even more.

She trembled for a second before regaining her composure. She extended a hand down to pit’s head and said softly, “Get to your feet, angel. Thank you for using my real name, but please. Don’t say that again.” Pit rose from under her hand, and looked her in the eyes. “I apologise-” He caught himself before he could make another blunder. “I am sorry. I will not call you… that… again.” He dropped his gaze, unable to hold it any longer.

Suddenly and quietly, the man with the hat and bow spoke. “Tetra… I think we should be careful about these three.” tetra looked over to him with a rather discerning look on her face. “Why, link? Are you afraid that one of them might replace you?” She put a hand on her hip and looked at him for a long while. Link un-notched the arrow and stood up straight. “No. What should they do?”

Tetra turned to the three with a smile on her face. “You, Ike. Help the men dig out the ship around that side. Pit, go with him. Soren, you come inside with me. I need someone to help me check the interior for damage.” Ike and Pit nodded and went around to the other side of the boat with the pirates and the man named link. Soren stayed behind with Tetra.