"Nao, be careful. If you lose… I can't help you."
.
The world spinning. Searing pain. The hard earth connecting with his back. Blood coloring his vision red.
Yet as the cold steel of a blade pierced his shoulder, pinning him to the ground in an agonizing flash, all he could think about was his sister urging him to reconsider his decision. It was a personal request more than anything, and he could still hear the tremulous undertone that accompanied the strong, commanding voice of his captain. This was no ordinary enemy. Even if it were, the results of a duel did not always reflect the true talent of the participants - there was a good bit of luck involved, as well. He knew this, and yet he had agreed to it. And now, as if by way of punishment for his foolishness, his last sight in this world would be the victorious grin of Captain Slaine Troyard, looming above him with one hand casually resting on the hilt of his sword.
Holding onto his consciousness through sheer force of will, he reached his good arm to the blade in attempt to remove it with his bare hand. But with Troyard still bearing down on it, it was a futile effort. At this little display of remaining fight, Troyard twisted the sword sharply, effectively drawing a surprised whimper from him. Inaho released his grip, fingers lacerated and bleeding, and with one last fond look at the blue sky above, where seagulls circled in the sun far above the spray of the sea, he let himself slip into oblivion.
The sound of a key turning in a lock, and iron hinges creaking as a door was swung open. It felt like he had been dreaming for a very long time, though he could not remember what it was he had dreamt. He did remember that he had died. Slaine Troyard had killed him. Or at least that was what was supposed to have happened.
Instead, he was lying flat on his back in the dark, and someone was approaching with a lantern. As he turned to look, there was a sudden stab of pain in his left eye, and he noticed for the first time that half of his world was completely black. When he reached up a hand to touch it, just to determine the extent of the damage, part of him did not want to know.
"Oh!" a young, high voice exclaimed the moment he moved, and then without any explanation disappeared with hurried footsteps.
He noted that they had left the door open, and grasping in his disoriented state that wherever he was, it was behind bars, his first thought was to somehow make it out of this cage before that person returned, and they locked him in again. Wandering in and out of sleep, precious time slipping away from him despite his efforts to stay awake and focused, he tried to calculate his chances, and the consequences should he fail. It was all too fuzzy, everything was distant, and moving seemed impossible. In the end, it didn't matter. Even when he felt his head finally begin to clear, the sleepiness drifting away and his body far less leaden, it all came to an abrupt stop when he remembered his other, more serious injury.
"You won't be able to use that arm for a while," someone said as he tried to sit up, and could not.
Troyard.
He heard the voice several seconds before the footsteps that were now nearly to him, swift and solid, yet light enough to hardly make a sound above the creaking of the ship, until they ended at his side. Luminous eyes looked down at him, and there was no discernable emotion in them. He closed his own, and shifted a bit to ease his aching, restless body to a more comfortable position on the hard wooden floor.
"Finally awake, I see," continued Troyard, not bothering to crouch down to his level, but simply standing over him.
"I'm sure you did not come all the way to the brig to state the obvious," retorted Inaho, glad that, despite the dryness in his mouth, at least he was able to speak, and that they had not gagged him. Yet.
Troyard sighed a bit, and leaned back against the bars of the cell. "Your tongue is as sharp as ever, Kaizuka," he remarked, crossing his arms, "Good. I thought perhaps I'd gone a little too far, and may have mangled you irreparably."
There was no evidence that he had not - Inaho had a very bad feeling about his eye - but the main concern was that he was not dead. "I'm more resilient than I look," he stated coolly, though in all honesty he had been sure he was a goner. "But why did you…"
"Why did I spare you?" Troyard gave a single, cynical laugh. "You're too precious a commodity to throw away that easily. Killing you was never my intent, though it would make my life easier if you were less important, and I could end you like I would anyone else."
This information was like a treacherous slap to the face, though he couldn't really be betrayed by someone he had never actually trusted. "The duel was to the death. You were supposed to kill me. This is a breach of-"
"If I was interested in following other people's rules, I wouldn't be a pirate."
That was true enough. No less from the cunning captain of the dreaded pirate vessel, Tharsis. But if they were both alive, they had unfinished business. "Then I will take that to mean that our duel is not over."
Troyard inclined his head, a hint of a smile tracing over his lips. "I look forward to fighting you again someday, but I assure you it will only end the same way. You'd best give it up and accept that you're mine now."
"Yours? What use could you possibly have for me." He had thought it over again and again, but it didn't make sense. He was the single greatest hindrance to Slaine Troyard's activities both at sea and along the coasts. The most reasonable course of action would have been to kill him.
"I can think of a lot," replied Troyard, "but the foremost is leverage. Understand that I've heard just as much about you as you've heard about me. You're quite the pride of Terra, aren't you? Though they use you so shamelessly for their own gain... I don't know how you can put up with it."
"They won't send anyone for me. I'm a quartermaster on a privateer vessel, not the admiral of a national fleet."
"Well, they may not, but they hardly concern me. Frankly, the fleets of Terra are an insult to the beauty of naval warfare."
In a way, he was right. Terra's military in general was nothing to write home about, and the only reason it had lasted this long was because of his own strategic guidance, and the miraculous peace declared by Vers a little over two years ago. During the war, Troyard had been at the forefront of royal military leadership on the side of Vers. The two of them had battled one another quite often, though they had never once met face to face back then. Now Troyard was a lowly pirate, still hell-bent on killing Terrans, and the occasional Versian to boot. Still, none of this was relevant. Troyard was taking his time explaining himself.
"Get to the point. How am I your leverage?"
"So impatient…" Troyard looked a little annoyed, but continued, "Your sister is a skilled captain, but we'll see how well she fares without you, and whether she can try to take this vessel down with the knowledge that her dear brother is aboard."
So that was it. He gritted his teeth. "She won't be so easily deterred." And he hoped that it was true.
Troyard laughed again. "You overestimate her cruelty. I've seen the way she operates. She'll stay away from this vessel until she has a plan, which will take longer without you, and by then I'll have accomplished what I need. Well, then," he straightened, and headed for the cell door, "when you've healed a bit, we'll talk at more length. For now… enjoy your rest."
Inaho closed his eyes and exhaled. Of all the mistakes he had made in his life, this was by far the worst. He had known that capture was a possibility, but given Troyard's no-survivors track record, and the prior agreement that the duel was to the death, he had felt certain that loss would mean the end. Obviously there had been a very important factor that he had missed: his relationship to Yuki, captain of the Deucalion. This case was different because he was different. Ironically, it was Yuki herself who was always telling him not to disregard the personal, emotional side of battle. Every sailor was human first and foremost, after all. He reached up his right hand, which was wrapped tightly across the palm and fingers, and touched the bandage over his eye. Any more carelessness would cost him far more. He was now completely at the mercy of the most notorious pirate of their time.