As soon as the arrow left the bow, I knew it's flight was true. I nudged it to the right to compensate for the wind and the fact that we were on boats that were moving.

I watched as it slightly climbed and then saw it fall and I saw the arrow slam into the helmsmen box. Even though there were some distance between the two ships. I clearly heard the scream of the helmsmen jerked back, as the arrow was buried into his chest.
The pirates that were standing in the front of the ship readying to board us heard the scream and looked back to see there fallen mate dead on the deck. There ship veered to the right as another man rushed to the helmsmen box.

"Rerri!" I shouted, as I laid a second arrow on the string. "Hard to port!"
As the ship began to turn from the pirate ship. I drew back hard on the bow and loosed. Again it rose and fell and hit it's target. The neck of the second helmsmen. Still another entered the helmsmen box. I knew those two shots were luck. I took a few seconds to clam the wild beating of my heart. "Must not let anyone enter that box." I muttered to myself. Can't kill us if they can not reach us." I drew the Bow back again and loosed.
Some of the pirates seeing what I was doing rushed towards the box with shields in hand to protect there third helmsmen. The arrow struck inside the box once again, but I heard no cry or shout. I missed the shot.

Seeing that they couldn't do anything but wait to reach us, the pirates bellowed there hatred. They pounded there spear butts on the ship deck. Some of them were foaming at the mouth as there roar got even louder. My father told me about when men get so enraged they would go into something he called a blood rage. I'm sure I was seeing this first hand.

Suddenly I heard a thump near my right ear. I turned to see a crossbow bolt lodged into the hull next to me. They have a crossbowman on that ship with them. I also noticed that the pirates were closing in on us once again.

"Rerri! Get us out of here! There gaining on us." I heard him shout something, but I couldn't understand what he said.

I took cover near the back of the ship. I had to get that crossbowman. The disadvantage of shooting a crossbow was the fact that it took time to reload. But it had the power to shoot from further distance. But I had the advantage of a quicker reload. I prayed that they had only one.

"Gunner!" I voice shouted. It was Davon. "Shoot there oarsmen." I smiled.


I had twenty-seven shafts left, but this was no time to stint on them, and so I drew back on the bow and loosed. I had a second on the string and the crossbowman had not finished winding his cords back as the first arrow slashed a rower's arm. And the second drove a splinter up from the boat's bow, then the third arrow hissed above the the oarsman's head and to splash into the sea. The rower ducked, then one gasped and fell forward with an arrow in his back. And the next instant a pirate was struck in the side and fell onto two of the oarsmen and then there was sudden chaos aboard the boat. The pirates and oarsmen were too close together, so I damn nearly couldn't miss. I aimed at a big man and sent an arrow down his throat. Another into a pirate whose face was contorted with hate. I plucked the feathered scraps from the string, took a new arrow and drove it into a bearded pirate who was all fury and hair.

I was about to draw again, when I noticed the crossbowman has his crossbow aimed towards me. I had no time to move when he fired. It was the end for me. Suddenly a shield was shoved front of my face. The crossbow bolt drove hard into the shield, cutting the tip of my nose. A small price to pay for my near fatal foolishness. I moved back out of range.

"I can't have you dying on us." A voice said. I turned my head to the voice. It was Nianna. "No one else here can shoot that damn bow."

I smiled and rose to my feet. I put my arrow on the string and took aim at the kneeling crossbowman. I buried the arrow into his eye and went though his brain and stuck out though the back of his head. I moved back to where Nianna was knelling still holding the shield.

"You saved me." I muttered. "I owe you my life, milady."

"Then you can repay me by killing as many of those bastards you can." She reached behind her and produced a sheave of extra arrows. There were twenty-four shafts evenly spaced about two leather disks that kept the arrows apart and so protected their feathers from being crushed. Nianna untied the twine holding the arrows and spilled the missiles on the deck besides me. She suddenly grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me towards her and kissed me hard on the lips. "Now kill them!" She said.

I drew again and again and killed again and again as I shot onto the ship of death. The boat suddenly slewed sharply away with it's oars clattering against each other. Without warning our ship suddenly turned towards the pirate ship.

"Rerri, what the hell are you doing?" I shouted in shock. "Turn us away from them!"

"Keep shooting you, Lethal Bastard!" It was Davon. He came topside, armed with his two short swords, followed by at least a dozen armed rowers. Several of the women were with them, armed with knives.

"Now, the roles are reversed." he said. "It will be us doing the boarding! Listen up! Kill the pirates, free the slaves, and you women, kill the wounded!" this time the roar came from our ship.

I kept firing as the two ship finally met. But there were few targets left. Without warning, Davon leaped ahead of all of them and took on three pirates alone, and his two swords were as fast as viper's strike. He had no shield. He dazzled the defenders with feints, twisted past their attacks, and killed all three with a grin on his face. 'Davon the Agile' indeed. I watched astonished. "And he called 'me' lethal." I said to Nianna. I dropped my bow, drew my sword and leaped onto the other ship.

It was blood, shit and guts spilled on the deck, and most of it was there's. Not all surrendered or pleaded for mercy. Several of our men died at there hands, but was soon killed themselves when over run with sheer numbers of hacking and stabbing swords and knives. And soon after that, it was all over.

We stood cheering and roaring. Our weapons held overhead, as some fell to there knees to cry tears of happiness or give thanks to the gods for our victory. We freed the surviving slaves and searched the rest of the ship and found little treasure, but a good amount of food and drinking water. Several of the men and women were tending to our wounded and helping them back to our ship.

Me and Nianna searched the supply area on the ship and found a girl chained at the neck to the hull of the ship. She looked no older then fourteen. Her clothes were torn and dirty. There were bruises on her face and neck area. No doubt being dragged along by the chain. She scrambled away from me with big amber eyes wide with terror when I moved close to her. Nianna told me to stand back and moved close to her saying that she wasn't going to hurt her. She stood close to her with her hands out to her. She waited for the girl to reach out to her. I could only guess that the girl trusted Nianna because she was a girl also. But what ever the reason, she reached out to her and took her hand. She came to her and threw herself into Nianna, sobbing uncontrollably. Nianna held her rocking, her in her arms saying that she was safe and no one was going to hurt her any more. I reached down and removed the neck chain from her and walked away from them.

Davon and several of our men stood looking down at one of our mates. It was one of the women. There was a knife in her chest. Yet, her knife was sticking out of the pirate's neck. "Died as a true warrior." Davon said. We all lowered our heads, praying for her peaceful journey to the after life.

With nothing else left to do we gathered the supplies and slaves and returned to our ship. We removed the line that connected the two ships. And begin back rowing away from the ship. Davon stood at the head of our ship with a lighted torch. He tossed the torch onto the other ship that was doused with whale oil and the hull of the pirate ship erupted in flames.

For a long while, me, Davon, Rerri, Nianna, and the girl watched the burning ship until it finally disappeared under the waves. That night we all decided that it would be best for us to get off this ship and head for land. Even Rerri agreed to this. We would trade off most of our supplies. We also agreed to a spot to leave the ship. A small fishing town called Ragnar. It was an out of the way place, yet not so out that way that we couldn't reach any of the larger towns or cities. The voyage would take us a weeks or two to reach. In the mean time we were going to dock in a small town to buy clothes for us and get a chance to take a hot bath.

After all that was said and done, we lost four men, one women. Yet we saved six men and one girl. Her name was Eleanor. And for several days she stayed close to Nianna, not leaving her side. "Looks like you have a little sister now, Nianna." I said. while we were eating. She said nothing at first. Just smiled. She told me that she wasn't ready to move around the ship alone as of yet.

For a couple of days we rowed hard to reach the port town. Rerri and several of the men left the ship first. No doubt all of his men joined him. They were gone for two days. I was sure they were hitting the taverns and the whore houses like crazy. When they returned, we could see that a few of them were gone. "They were no longer slaves, so they left." Rerri said, calmly. "They wanted there freedom." None of us could argue with that.

All the women and the last of the men went with Davon and me. Most of the men didn't care what they looked like. They headed for the nearest tavern, with gold and silver in hand. We was sure it was the last we were going to see of most of them. Me and Davon escorted the women to the small store to get the women fitted with new clothes. We checked them into several rooms with hot baths ready for them.

After they were settled, We both went to the shops to get some new clothes ourselves. I got some new boots, calfskin pants, an ox hide coat and a fine woolen cloak. Davon new clothes were similar to mine, but in a slightly different style. We both got rooms in the same place where Nianna and the rest of the women were staying. The hot bath felt wonderful. I stayed in the water for nearly an hour. Almost falling asleep several times. I got out of the water and dried myself off and laid naked on the bed. It was the first time I was going to sleep in a bed in over two years. I was about to close my eyes when I heard the door to my room open quietly. Even in the darkness I could recognize Nianna's shape and flowing blond hair, as he got into the bed with me. Afterward I lay with tears in my eyes, because I was thinking about Gisela.

"I do not deserve this pleasure, while she was still enslaved." I thought to myself.

But I couldn't lie to myself that I didn't have feelings for Nianna also. For about an hour I wrestled with my feelings until sleep finally claimed me.

I woke up a few hours later. The sun was just peeking up from the east. Nianna was gone. I was not sure when she left. I got dressed and decided to go for a walk down to where the ship was docked. And what I saw shook me to the core of my being. The ship was gone.

"Rerri!" I shouted. "You bastard!"

I ran back to the inn, I pounded on door where Davon slept. He opened the door half asleep. I told him that the ship was gone. He rubbed his eyes and chuckled under his breath. This shocked me. He told me to calm down and come inside. I walked inside to see one a women sleeping in his bed. I asked him what was we going to do now that the ship was gone.

"Don't worry about it, my brother." He said calmly. "I half expected that he was going to do this."

"How did you know?"

"He agreed to leaving the ship too eagerly."

"But he got the gold and the supplies. What are we going to do?" I said. Once again he chuckled.

"Not really." We walked over towards a small chest. He picked it up and carried it to the table in front of me. "Open it."

I looked at him for a second and opened it. My eyes went wide at what I saw. It was filled with gold. Our gold. "How?"

"I took it with me when I left the ship." he said, a large grin on his face.

"Wouldn't he checked the boxes before he left?" He nodded.

"I filled the boxes with 'other things' and topped it off with a few gold and silver coins. When he opened the boxes he saw the coins on the top. I was sure he wasn't going to check all the way though. he was in a hurry." I started laughing.

"What 'Other things' did you put into those boxes?" I asked.

"Some lead ingots for weight, and stuffed in some dried fish. And I also has some of the more valued supplies taken off the ship also. There in one of the storage holds on the pier. I'm sure he'll be in for quite a shock when he finds out there only empty boxes on the ship."

For several moments, nothing was said. We just looked at each other. Then the two of us burst out laughing.
This lasted for a while.

Daylight came sooner then we expected. Most of us were leading over our oars, breathing heavily. We were sure we put a good amount of distance between us and the pirates, but I wasn't sure. I was sure that several of us thought the same thing. Several moments later Davon got up from his bench to talk with Rerri at the helm, no doubt talking about what would be our next move. I followed.

Rerri wanted to go up north to Kenet. He told him that that his Liege lord would protect us. Davon wanted to go to Fatoria. Mainly because we were on there ships.

"Lord Tyring will protect us all", Rerri said firmly. "He's a good man."

"I do not doubt this, Rerri. But you must see it from our point of view. I'm sure that this Lord Tyring would welcome you and your men with open arms. But would he slap the manacles on the rest of us as soon as we step off the ship. Can you guarantee that won't happen?" Rerri said nothing.
"I expected as much."

"There is something else we have to consider." I said

"And what is that?" Rerri asked.

"The Fatorians lost two of there ships, dozens of men, arms and treasure. I can only guess what they will do to us if we sail into there port in this ship."

My point of view reinforced Rerri idea of sailing to Kenet. But I wasn't finished. "Also we have to consider that fact that we escape from the pirate ship, killed several of there men, stole gold and females slaves from them. I'm sure they want us in the worse way. But before you start saying we should sail to Kenet, Rerri. I'm sure you remember that you were captured by a second red ship. I can only guess how many red ships are out there. And you know when word gets out about what we did to them. There going to search high and low to find us. And I shutter to think what they'll do to us if they find us. And if that happens, there are only two options..........Fight or Flight" I'm sure both Rerri and Davon could see the point of my argument.

"Alright then, Gunner. What do you think we should do?" Rerri asked.

I took a deep breath and sighed loudly. "I'd get off this ship as fast as I can.The seas are not safe for us. I would split the gold up between all of us. Rerri and his men will no doubt head north. Davon and I will head east. For we both have people to search for."

I wasn't about to tell Rerri that me and Davon would go west to recover from all those years of being slaves. We would need time to put on weight and train to regain our skills. We had many people that need killing. Both of our Liege Lords for starters. People that needed rescuing.....Gisela.

I listened to the two of them talk without for several minutes more until I grabbed my bow and decided to go up topside. There wasn't any room for me to do any shooting, but I wanted to reintroduce myself to the feel of drawing a bow again. I took a few moment to look at the bow. When I first took it I thought it was a large hunting bow. But this was a War Bow. I wondered if the man I killed was an archer or not. I pushed the thought out of my mind and walked over to the rear of the ship. I got in to my shooting stance and drew the bow, and at once I remembered how much strength was needed to bend the great yew stave. I hauled the string back towards my nose and realized that my left arm was trembling slightly with the tension with the weapon.

"Oh, yes!," I muttered after holding the bow back for several seconds. "That's the feeling."
I could feel the burning feeling in my arms and chest as I released the tension of the string. I remembered needing the immense force to hold in the draw position. I instantly remembered hearing my father's voice in my ears.

"You must be able to draw the weapon slowly before you can draw it quickly, Falco."

I suddenly felt a lump in my throat, I hadn't thought much about my father in the last two years. And now all the feeling suddenly rushed up to the surface. For the next couple of minutes I slumped on the deck, crying for my father, hoping he was safe. I got to my feet, wiping my tears away with the sleeve of my shirt. I had to think about myself at this moment. My freedom was still in question. So for nearly an half hour I closed my eyes and slowly drawing back on the bow and holding it over and over again. Seeing the arrow fly towards the target in my mind. After a while my arms chest and lower back ached from all the drawing of the bow. I turned to head back below deck. I was sure the Davon wanted us to row some more to keep a distance from the pirates we escaped from. When I turned, I was facing one of the freed women slaves.

I instantly recognized her. It was the women that was being raped by the pirate when we first boarded the ship last night. My eyes went wide and a small gasp escaped my throat.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's alright, miss." I replied, doing a good job of hiding the slight shock in my voice. "Is everything alright?"

As I looked at her. I could see that under all the dirt rags and dishoved blond hair, I could see that she was a pretty young lady. But the pain in her green eyes made it hard to look at her.

"Alright as much as to be expected." I wanted to say something, but no words could come out. "Are you an Archer?" she asked staring down at my bow.

"Yes, before I got captured. I was pretty got with the bow." I said. "That what my father always told me. she laughed.

"I wanted to thank you for helping me last night. I......" Her words trailed off.

"It was my pleasure. I....I just wish we got there sooner."

She took a deep breath, her chest rose and lowered with the exhale of air. "It wouldn't of mattered. We were all raped before we got captured by the pirates. I offered myself so they wouldn't take my friend....again."

Her words nearly hurt me as much as it must of been as painful for her to speak about it.

"I don't know what to say.....I'm sorry." I muttered. I could only guess, with my long, ratty looking hair and beard, I must looked as nasty as the pirate who raped her.

"What is your name?" is said softly, smoothly changing the subject.

"My name is Falco, yet nearly all on this ship know me as Gunner."

She asked me what why did you call myself Gunner. So for the next several minutes I told her about my father and the war and our capture. She listened quietly as I spoke, her eyes never leaving my face. I asked her what was her name. Her name was Nianna. I told her that was a pretty name.

Then she told me everything that happened to her. She was bastard daughter of Lord Douglas. I heard of him. He was a very wealthy man in the area far east of Fatoria. She told me of the arranged marriage of her to a brute of a man who's last wife died under 'mysterious' circumstances. That night after the wedding she was raped by him and she swore that he would never hurt her again. The next night he would meet his end when she drove a knife into his neck after he tired to rape her the next night. That night, under the cover of darkness, she escaped, only to be captured by bandits a week later. Not knowing her identity she was sold off to the kingdom of Fatoria as a slave. She and the rest of the women were being sent to the Island Nations in the south, when the pirates captured there ship.

And here I thought I had it bad.......I did, but these girls went though for more hell then I. What could I say. Said nothing. We talked some more, chatting about nothing in particular, just enjoying each others company. I couldn't explain it, but I hadn't been close to a women for almost a year when I held Gisela's hands. I felt no burning feelings of lust for her. Was I in that much of control of my feelings? After that I noticed a strong wind blowing in our direction we was heading. With that I went down below to tell Davon and Rerri this. Moments later, we lowered the sails and stowed the oars and let the strong winds take us along.

The traveled well for several days. Rerri stayed at the helm. Giving orders every now and then. Most of the time me or Davon stayed close to the women, to protect them from some of the other men.

Davon searched the ship and found a sleek Fatorian razor in an ivory case. We took turns carefully shaving each other. At that moment we were no longer slaves. And we were no longer going to look like slaves either. At that moment Davon had to come to a difficult decision about the women.

"You want us to stay in that storage cell like animals, Davon?" Nianna said. "You must be mad?"

"Listen to me." he said calmly. "Other then Gunner, I trust no one on this ship. You saw how some of these men were looking at you all. They would of raped you all if they had a chance. Unless some of you are willing to service yourself to us. We can not be near you all the time." She said nothing at first took a deep breath, released it and finally spoke.

"So? Who's will have the key to this cell? You?"

"No." Davon said taking the key out and placing it into Nianna's hand. "You are. We'll make sure there is food and water in there for you all. Gunner will be sleeping close to the cell so when any of you need to use the potty, He will be there to stand watch."

There was nothing she could say. She was in control of her and her fellow women's safety. There was more then enough room to place sleeping mats for all of them to sleep comfortably. But there was one question that was nagging Nianna.

"I was listing to you, Gunner and Rerri talk the other day. There is something I want to ask you about that."

"What is it?"

"If you follow Gunner, choice and decide to leave this ship and to travel on land. What will happen to us?"

"You wasn't listening very well, Nianna." Davon said smiling. "Just like Gunner said. You can come with us.....go with Rerri. Or go your own separate way. The choice is yours."

Davon was about to say something when the lookout shouted that a pirate ship was spotted on the star port bow heading towards us. Me and Davon rushed topside to take a look. Rerri was already up there.

"Well Rerri?" Davon asked. "Is it the ship we escaped from?"

"No, he said grimly. "It's too small. a bit larger then ours. But they have more oarsmen and they're sure to over take us in no time. It's over."

"I guess it comes down to those two choices, Gunner. Fight or Flight?" Davon said.

"If we fight, we'll be killed. If we run we will be captured!" Rerri shouted.

Davon looked at me grimly. And I said nothing at first. But I pointed at rear of the ship. Something that looked like a box.

"Rerri? What is that?" I asked point at that part of the ship."

"That is where the helmsmen steers the ship."

"Really? Out there in the open?" I said a large grin forming on my face. "You remember when I said there were two choices? I do believe there is a third.....BOTH!" I said reaching for my bow and quiver of arrows.

"Remember when I said, my brother. If were going to die. We'll die as warriors?" Davon asked. I nodded. "Well, today we Fight as warriors. And take out as many of those bastards we can."

"Our fight for freedom ends here. We'll be free or dead." I said notching an arrow in my bow.

Davon, Rerri and the others went down below to man the oars.

I walked towards the front of the ship, staying out of the direct sight of the pirate ship. I took a deep breath and waited until the ship was in my killing range. I had thirty arrows and I wanted to made ever shot count. After a few more minutes they were in range. It was time to teach these bastards the power of the War Bow.

I pull back the string until the arrow head touched my left hand. I held it for several second, I took one look at the helmsmen box, made a small pray to the gods to guide my arrow.

Then I loosed!