Down with Rai

With the plan in action Jacob and I walk around the town hoping to find the other crew members. I'm a bit nervous but if we can pull this off we won't ever have to worry about Rai ever again. We turn a corner and spot a few men passing by. Jacob looks from our corner and confirms they're not apart or the crew. With that we move on remaining s conspicuous as possible. But with half the night gone already it almost feels as though we've missed out window… until,

"Hold on." Jacob has us stop for a moment as a group forms just up ahead at the water fountain. In the group all are men and dressed as sailors. "That's them."

"You ready for this?" I ask bracing myself to start running.

"No but this is the only plan we have."

"I know it's not one of my best ideas; but their more likely to try and chase humans rather than wolves."

"Right…listen Reisaki if I get caught you have to keep running and if for any reason that I don't live I want you to tell my daughter-"

"Tell her yourself once we're done with this. You're not going to die." I leave no room for him to say anything like that before we turn our attention to the crew again. We sneak over and find a place to hide waiting for the right moment.

"How much longer are we going to have to search for this girl?"

"Yes what is so important about her?"

"The captain gave us an order so we have no choice but to search for her." a calm vice says from over the others.

"Thane…I know you're his right hand but really do you hear yourself? The captain has lost his mind!"

"Do you want him going after your friends and family? …I don't." even his right hand doesn't want Rai coming after his family. Something has to be done. "I admit I don't like it any better than you do…but we have no choice. Lets just find the girl and be done with this." I look over at Jacob and we nod in agreement. At the same time we jump out from our hiding spot and instantly catch their attention. The right hand Thane immediately gives the order to pursue us and the others begin to chase us down. Jacob and I run as fast as we can our feet carrying us as far as they could in front of the crew chasing after us. Jacob being faster and remembering the way we have to go runs slightly ahead of me and turns a corner. I follow behind him turning the same corner. My lungs are on fire and I feel as if I'll throw up at any moment but I continue on trying to keep up. One of the men starts to get closer reaching out for me and I hear him curse as he can't grab hold of me. It gives me the push to pick up my pace and keep up with Jacob. Jacob makes another hard turn and I follow behind. Heading down an ally way one of the crew men grabs ahold of my shoulder and instantly I react elbowing them in the face. It was a luck shot and somehow I get the person off me. Racing out of the ally way we reach an open area that could be a town square. Finally we stop running and turn to face the on coming crowd of men. I place my thumb and index finger in my mouth and whistle as loud as I can. At my signal six wolves race out and create a barrier between us and the crew. The crew men all hesitate as the wolves growl and snarl at them. Thane looks up at me,

"How many do you think they can take of us before they're all dead…just give up." I look over at Jacob and he begins to speak,

"Please just listen to what she has to say first before you do anything."

"Listen to her? Why should we listen to her or you for that matter? You're a traitor."

"He's only a traitor in your eyes because Rai says so." I say making all of them look at me, "you only sail on t he sea because Rai says so…you only eat because Rai says so…you only live because Rai says so…"

"What's your point girl?" another asks,

"Rai controls everything about you all and it's only because you all fear him." they all go silent, "I can understand why that is after being his slave for these past weeks."

"How can you possibly understand?"

"Because you're all nothing more than his slaves too…! He treats you all like you're nothing more than his property and when he's done using you he throws you away!" they all go quiet again, "I know this because he 'threw away ' one of your members only hours ago…he was maybe no older than me. he might have been one of the youngest in your crew…" they all exchange glances while some actually look for someone.

"What did he look like?" Thane asks.

"I don't know…but he wanted to go home to his dying grandmother."

"Dom…" Thane seems to lose his composure for a moment…

"You knew him?"

"He and Dom were like brothers…" Jacob looks somewhat pale faced as he looks at the ground "I'm sorry Thane…"

"…" Thane looks over at me, "How?" his eyes leave me no room to look away,

"You Captain took his sword and gutted him on the street…he was lucky no one saw him…" a murmur rings throughout the crew, "…Why…Why did h-he die?" it seems to take everything in Thanes power not to shed a tear.

"Because he realized something that you all haven't yet. He was free…"

"Free…? What are you talking about?" I signal Morgan and the others to stand down and back off just a bit as I speak.

"Rai took him from his home only because he had the means to do so…he threatened his family…possibly the only family he had left. For a normal person with a heart…they would do anything to keep that safe…even be held against their will on a pirate ship. But once Rai lost his ship and his money, your friend realized he had no way to threaten what he held precious to him any more. Your friend realized that he was free from that oppression. Don't you get it…he knew Rai had no more power over him. He didn't want that getting out to the rest of you. The only thing holding you all back is the fear you have of Rai." They all exchange uncertain looks,

"Look…I know I have no right in saying this to you all but it's the truth." Jacob says, "Rai has no ship now, the Black Larka is at the bottom of the ocean and Rai has no mean to fund a new ship. He has no way to come after my daughter or yours or your friends, wives, children, nieces…any of them. Don't you see, we all can return to our normal lives. We all can go home!" Jacob seems to have more luck in swaying them as they listen.

"We all lost our freedom a long time ago…" Thane says,

"That may be true, but you now have the power to take it back. Look at Jacob…he's doing everything he can now to get back to his daughter; he hasn't seen her in over seven years…! Aren't you all wanting to see those who's precious to you?" they all remain quiet. Each one has a look of contemplation on their face as they seem to think and weigh their options. I knew it wasn't going to be an easy thing to think about; they've all been under his reign for so long. "The only thing holding you back is your fear; your fear of Rai?"

"And they should fear their captain!" I turn and there standing behind me is Rai. "You little witch! What did you think was going to happen?! Did you really think they would turn against me?!" Rai's hair is now a tangled mess and in his eyes he has the look as though he could fall off the deep end at any moment. Eduardo and Nathan stand in front of me as Rai steps closer. "You…and your STUPID little mutts! Ever since you showed up… you've filled all of their heads with FOOLISH ideas!" his sword clangs as he drags it on the ground behind him, "And now…here we are…you have me looking all over for you…! My ship…and ALL my MONEY is gone because of you! Nothing short of your life is going to be able to repay the debt you OWE!" I back away from him as he raises his sword and swings at me. Eduardo and Nathan are about to lunge at him when someone else jumps in front of us and twists the sword out of Rai's hand before punching him in the face.

"Thane?!" my eyes grow wide at who it is. Rai stands nose bloody and bruised,

"What do you think your doing Thane?! Get out of the way!"

"No…no I won't…"

"What did you SAY?!"

"Now that I look at you this girl is right…you have no power any more…you're just a crazy old man who let his greed and selfishness consume him until there was nothing left."

"You! Men dispose of Thane! Then take the girl and her mutts!" I look back at them men but none of them move. Instead they all glare at the captain, "What are you FOOLS waiting for?! I gave you an order now follow it!" one by one the crew start to walk off realizing the truth. Some of them talk among themselves as they walk off together and offer each other to buy a drink. Finally the only one left is Thane glaring down at Rai.

"I'm going to personally see to it that the navy take care of you…and make sure you never see the light of day again…!" Thane takes the butt of the sword and uses it to knock out Rai. Once he's done that he turns to me, "Thank you…and I'm sorry for everything we all put you through." Silently I rummage through my shoulder bag and produce one of the gem bags taken from Rai's room.

"I hope this is enough to help you all get home…" I give him the bag of rubies and silently he takes it.

"I'll see to it that everyone does…thank you for giving us our freedom back." I smile at him before walking off to let Jacob and him talk for a moment.

"How about we splurge a bit tonight and get a nice room?"

"I think that's a good idea." Morgan says. Knowing that we're all tired I find the best in I can and get a room for both Jacob and one for me and the others for the night. That night was the first in many that we were all able to sleep so peacefully that none of us wanted to get out of the comfy bed in the morning.

Either it's the second to last or last chapter coming up…I'm kinda sad about that… RxR please.