(Lavashipping) Tend to the Flame: The Lost Pendant

III| Stiix

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     “Stop!!”

     “Hold your fire!!”

     “Lock every door and windows!”

     “Do not let them escape!”

     The knob doesn’t budge. Stupid mansion. No matter how many twists and turns he’s made yet all he’s done is waste time. He adjusts his mask. The footsteps of his hunters echoing through the corridors are becoming louder and louder until eventually the pirate gives up and runs up the stairs.

     “Halt!!”

     The soldiers have spotted him.

     He sprints up with them on his trail. He jumps over the railings and sees a white door waiting for him at the end of the corridor. He runs for it. The guns behind him reload and start shooting. He dodges them all and reaches the knob, twists it, pushes it open, and closes it once he enters.

     The pirate locks the door and destroys the knob, only then when he turns around did he realize the situation he’s given himself.

      About three — no, five other soldiers have their guns pointed at his face. The pirate freezes.

     “Hands in the air,” commanded one of them, and he slowly obeys.

     He darts his eyes around through the windows and somewhere within the buildings, longing for a signal yet to be erupted. The soldiers cautiously near him. They grab a hold of his wrist. He pulls it. They grab it again, tighter this time and painful enough to make the pirate crunch his face, still he continues to struggle. The shackles are pulled.

     Out in the distance a horn blows, causing the troops to look in that direction, and in a flash an explosion erupts from a rooftop.

     Screams emit from the streets. Dark smoke floats in the air, dancing to the sky as the resulting flames immediately extinguish.

     That was his cue. The pirate knees the nearest person in the gut and steals their weapon. He dashes out, through the number of blue uniforms and all the way out through the window. The soldiers yell at him. He twirls around mid-air — just for the glory of giving them a middle finger as he falls from two stories high — and lands into a moving cart of hay bales.

     The man gasps for breath whilst he cocks his head up from the suffocating hay. He looks back to the building, just in time to see the soldiers shooting at him from above. He switches rides and aboards a wagon. The horse violently neighs and speeds up.

     He smiles under his mask; his eyes show. Though the light of his face falls as he spots his crew. They’re all already heading to their destination, and he figures he’s got enough time yet before the final weapon is unleashed. He’s got to get off. He’s got to avoid failing or else the stolen pearls he’s got under his sleeves and the mass heist would be pointless. He tucks back the said pearls, and secures his cuffs.

     The wagon turns here and there. The masked pirate’s eyes meet a bridge aligned to him. He positions himself, jumps off the wagon and into the stone bridge.

     He looks to his left, to his unfortunate luck he finds a bunch more soldiers meters away from him. They spot him. He hoists himself up and off he goes sprinting to the opposite direction.