Chapter 9

We spent the next few days waiting in suspense to find out what the pirates were going to do. Tris had arrived five days later as fast as she could from Lightsbridge and wasn't happy to see the pirates. Briar and I spent many nights on the wall, waiting for any sign, but occasionally we would go home to Discipline for the night. That is what we were doing tonight; I slipped into my room and fell asleep as soon as I crawled under the covers.

There was a shout and a loud clanging of a bell. I sat straight up and looked around. There was a loud knock at me door and a shout. "Ti, get up, we're needed on the wall!" Briar yelled from the other side as I jumped out of bed and got dressed in my loosest clothes. I made sure that I had my flute and daggers were on and pulled a hat on with my hair tucked under it before running out of my room. Briar and the rest of Discipline cottage were gathering the last of their things when I emerged from my room. Briar looked up and threw an apple at me. "I'm afraid this is all that we have time for, come on," he motioned and we ran from the cottage to the wall.

When we arrived at the wall, I saw a large group of pirates on the beach, coming towards us. There were more rowboats bringing even more pirates to fight. "Oh dear," I watched the ships and saw a glimpse of black. "Briar!" I called over the yell of the battle that had just started. I pointed to the ships, "They're bringing out their cannons!" Briar nodded and pointed it out to one of the servants in charge of communicating down the wall. Soon everyone on the wall knew of the cannons and Briar motioned to me. "Let's go down and see what can be done on the beach." He said as he gathered his mage kit and started down the wall to the beach. I followed him and soon we were both down on the shore. We were soon attacked and I pulled my daggers out, quickly blocking a staff. The man I was fighting brought up his staff to hit me when a large plant came out of the ground and strangled him. When the man fell, I saw Briar on the other side, throwing small cloth bundles that exploded into giant plants when they hit the ground.

Of course, why hadn't I thought of that? I crept into a corner and pulled my flute out. I started to play a lively tune and watched as some of the pirates started to look around confused. They were quickly captured along with another couple that had begun to dance with each other. I fought numerous men, trying not to get hurt to badly.

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We fought for hours and soon I was exhausted. I saw Daja fighting with some pirates and quickly took them down. She came over to me, "You've been down here forever without a break, go up to the wall and get something to eat." I nodded and started for the wall. I climbed the stairs and found Sandry, Lark and Rosethorn, bandaging and healing people.

"Ti, come here, let us make sure that you're not hurt." Sandry called me over and started as if she was going to check me out. I laughed and brushed her away.

"I'm fine, just a small cut that will be fine with a bandage," I took one from the pile and started to wrap it around my hand were I had been cut across the palm and wrist. "Other than this, all I've got is a few cuts and bruises."

Sandry nodded and helped me secure my bandage. "There's food down there," she said, motioning just down the wall, "Get something to eat and take a nap or at least a break before going out there." She said and Rosethorn nodded in agreement as she started to work on a man with a large gash down his leg. I nodded and left.

After I got something to eat, I sat up on the wall and watched, I couldn't tell who was who anymore, but I hoped that Briar, Daja and everyone else were okay. I watched Tris, who was down a bit from me. She was calling up winds, lightening and bringing huge tidal waves up onto the beach, taking out as many pirates as she could at a time. It still amazed me at how powerful she was, and scared me at the same time.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, Briar was tapping me on the shoulder. "Come on Ti," he said softly, "Wake up, we're going to need all the help we can get." I looked up at him and he smiled. "Glad you decided to join us. We're going down to find anyone that's too hurt to make it up to the wall."

"Alright," I said, pushing myself up and following him down the stairs to the beach. We started closest to the wall and worked our way down. Briar healed those who needed it badly and we bandaged others. There were more people out there, following us, gathering and helping the other people to the real hospital.

Soon I looked up and saw that there wasn't anyone else around. Briar was just a few feet away from where I was. I saw that there was a bend separating us from the rest of the group. I stood up and moved my way over to Briar where he was closing a dead pirate's eyes. Briar stood and brushed his hands off, looking around.

"This wasn't a good day," he said, surveying the beach and all the bodies. Some were still alive, just in too much pain to move or were knocked out by Briar's magic. I nodded in agreement and moved over to him.

All of the sudden there was a loud shout and I turned quickly, feeling for my daggers that weren't at my hips. Briar was in the same predicament and I felt myself being lifted up and thrown into a boat. We were being rowed across the water towards the pirate ships in the all to near distance.