Thud.
The knife was driven deep into the wood of the desk and stayed there, firmly anchored in its wooden sheath.
Blackbeard look at the two of them, incredulity spreading across his scarred face. He made to get up from his chair but Hylla thrust her sword under his chin. The pirate captain was wise enough to stay still.
"What do you want?" He asked hoarsely.
Adrenaline and satisfaction still ran hot in Reyna's veins. Behind her, she heard the banging of the pirates trapped below decks, and the groans of the few they had had to defeat to get to the captain's cabin. The entire crew, outwitted by two teenagers from Puerto Rico. Well. Reyna was technically a pre-teen, but she was close enough that she counted it.
"I want you to free us," Hylla started. "I want you to drop us off on land, and—also, I want first pick from your treasure."
"We," Reyna amended.
"I," Hylla contradicted. They had another silent battle of wills before Hylla looked away. She hadn't conceded, she had just terminated their conflict.
"What if I don't meet yer demands?" Blackbeard pointed out. "What if I just killed the two of ye right here?"
"Good luck with that," Hylla challenged, pushing the tip of the sword more into his beard. "Your men are all either trapped below decks or have had the living daylights beaten out of them. We outnumber you two to one."
Blackbeard squinted at her, trying to figure out how serious she was. "Ye think that if ye had to, you could take a life, kid?"
"I'm a daughter of Bellona," Hylla said proudly. "I could take your life easily."
Further shock spread across the pirate captain's face, but then gave way to understanding, and finally something akin to worry. The captain was too seasoned to show worry, but uneasiness was there.
"I'll meet your demands," he said finally. "I'll drop ye both by the side of the river."
"At civilization," Hylla enforced. "And something from your treasury. Stash. Horde. Whatever you call it."
"That's my money—"
"That's like saying we're your prisoners. If you can't enforce it, it's not yours."
There was a brief pause as Hylla and Blackbeard stared each other down from opposite sides of the desk. Reyna stayed exactly where she was, manning the door.
Finally Blackbeard leaned back and rummaged in a drawer, pulling out a large key and grumbling all the while. He held it up. "They key to my treasury."
Hylla snatched it and barged past Reyna, hurrying below decks to where all the gold and silver the pirates had accumulated was stored. Reyna cast a glance at Blackbeard before following her older sister, slamming the door behind her. Hylla was checking the iron bar slung across the door to the lower levels. When she was satisfied that it was secure, she hurried to the door leading to the more secure part of the ship.
Reyna had watched her sister reduce from a dedicated older sister to a shallow spa attendant, and in the last few months she had seen her grow into a confident strategist. Now her power was inspiring as she heaved up the grating and dropped below the deck. Reyna followed close behind. Using only an oil lamp to light their way, they hurried down the dark hallway. The sound of shouting reached them all the way from the other end of the ship. There was no way to completely quarantine one side; they just had to hope no pirates where guarding the treasury.
They reached the heavy wooden door and found two pirates working at the lock.
"Hey—" one of them started, but Hylla smashed him in the temple with the pommel of her sword. He hadn't even hit the ground before Reyna knocked his friend out cold. Hylla didn't commemorate her— they didn't have time for that— but inserted the heavy key into the treasury door and pushed.
They sight was amazing. It was like a little Aladdin's cave, overflowing with gold coins and glinting in the light of the oil lamp.
Hylla tossed Reyna a bag. "Fill it up."
"No one uses these coins anymore."
"They're still worth something," Hylla pointed out, sweeping money into her own bag with long motions.
Reyna followed suit. The coins shifted and tumbled down the pile like a miniature landslide. They were rough, stamped by hand and off-center. She remembered the story her father used to tell them about their ancestor who had been a pirate, whose spoils had built their house. She had believed him because she had had to. Now she wondered if her glorified descendant had been as repugnant as Blackbeard.
The coins shifted and the light from her lamp caught on something long and…silver. It definitely wasn't a coin. Reyna dug her hands into the coins around dug the object out. It was the head of a silver dog, with dull ruby eyes and teeth bared in a snarl. Reyna examined them and found that they were rotatable. They were also sharp as any weapon she'd every seen.
"Look at this," she called back to Hylla, hoping her sister listened for once. The sound of coins tinkling to the ground stopped, indicating that she had. The older girl moved around to stand by her younger sister.
"It's a dog," Hylla said.
"It's a silver dog."
Hylla rapped on its head. "It's hollow."
"Where'd they get a silver dog statue?"
"How on earth would I know?" Hylla asked, annoyed. "We can't take it with us. Forget it."
The older girl moved away but Reyna continued to examine the statue. She freed a little bit of its neck, but to remove the statue completely would require shifting the entire pile.
"Are you done yet?" Hylla called, but Reyna ignored her.
"Salve, Argentum," she said, not even realizing what she had said.
"What—" Hylla began.
The ruby eyes of the dog statue glowed like a light was behind them, and the teeth in its mouth spun like drills. Reyna yelled and kept back. The dog jumped to its feet, collapsing the entire pile of coins across the floor, and barked loudly and mechanically.
Hylla swung her sword at its neck but the blade bounced off. The mechanical dog snarled menacingly, then paced in a circle. It seemed confused. Then with a howl it dove into a nearby pile and started to dig, sending the heavy coins flying. The girls threw their hands up to protect their faces. When the barrage of coins ceased, another howl rang through the air. To Reyna, it sounded mournful. Hylla cleared viewed it differently. She grabbed her sister's arm and started dragging her toward the door. "Come on, we can lock them in!"
"Why—"
"Isn't it bad enough that you woke it up?" Hylla hissed. The dog seemed much more interested in its pile than them, but it turned when she spoke. Its ruby eyes fixed on Reyna. Their glow dimmed, and its metal ears drooped.
Reyna broke free of Hylla and drove for the silver dog. It whined and pressed its head against her thigh, baying, looking up at her with pleading gemstone eyes. The object it had uncovered was unmistakably another dog. It had the same eyes and same build, but this time it was made purely of gold.
"You want me to wake him up?" Reyna asked the dog. It didn't reply except for to produce another high-pitched whine.
"Don't you dare," Hylla warned.
Reyna ignored her and knelt next to the other dog. She ran her fingers along its muzzle. Nothing happened. She turned to the silver dog. "How do I do this?"
The dog barked loudly twice.
"Thanks," Reyna muttered, going back to examining the statue.
The silver dog barked again, then barged between the golden statue and Reyna. Its barks nearly burst her ear drums.
"Alright, alright!" she said, and the dog finally shut up. Understanding dawned on her. "You want me to speak?"
"The dog is telling the human to speak," Hylla muttered dryly. Reyna ignored her again. She was getting quite good at it.
"Salve," she said to the dog. It was one of the few Latin words she knew; 'hello'. The statue remained frustratingly inert. "Salve, canis."
"You called the other one Argentum," Hylla reminded her.
"I thought you didn't want the dogs."
Hylla shrugged passively. "We just need to go before Blackbeard gets his crew together."
"Argentum," Reyna muttered to herself. She hadn't known the word before, but now she understood it; 'silver'. "Meaning you're gold. Meaning… Salve, Aurum."
The gold dog came to life with a whrrr and barked happily, wagging its tail. The silver dog yipped with joy and the two crashed into each other, tumbling through the scattered coins and roughhousing.
"We're done now," Hylla said. "Come on."
Reyna finally caved and followed Hylla from the room. Hylla purposely left the door unlocked and started retracing their steps back to the upper deck. They left the same way their came: in absolute silence.
There was a crash from behind them and a pair of mechanical barks, and before Reyna could take another step two silver and gold formers wove their way around her legs and looked up at her meaningfully.
"What?" She asked, trying to keep her voice low. The pounding of the trapped pirates was closer than before and the last thing she wanted to do was alert them.
The dogs barked again.
"Shut them up!" Hylla demanded, looking anxiously down the hallway. It was too late. There was a chorus of shouts and cacophony of pounding footsteps as the pirates raced toward them. "Run!"
They raced toward the pirates, hoping to make it to the upper level before they did. They reached the grate. Hylla shoved it aside and swung herself up. Reyna jumped. It was just like the crates in Circe's storeroom, except this time it counted. Hylla extended a hand—
A hand closed around Reyna's ankle and she was thrown back down. The pirates shouted their victory and her escape route disappeared as pirates closed in on all sides. Hylla yelled something, the dogs snarled…
The pirates were suddenly running down the hallway, yelling in fear now. The silver dog—Argentum— chased after them, snarling, a ball of silver fury. As Reyna watched, the dog launched himself onto one of the pirates, dragging him down. The gold dog—Aurum— raced after his partner, determined to join in the fight.
"Get up!" Hylla demanded, and helped Reyna onto the deck. The barks of the dogs and the screams of the pirates faded, to be replaced with wind.
They had left the open sea and were now forging down a river, devoid of all boats except small fishing crafts. Shading her eyes, Reyna could see a two-story yacht far up the river.
"We'll drop you there," Blackbeard said, stomping up next to them. He eyed their bags full of treasure mournfully. "The faster you two are off my ship, the better."
The captain moved away to man the wheel and something nuzzled Reyna's hand. Aurum had returned, a scrap of cloth caught between two of his teeth. Reyna pulled it out and returned to looking at the shore, trying not to be too surprised when Argentum appeared out of thin air next to her.
"Are the dogs coming with us?" Hylla asked, sounding grudging and maybe just a bit jealous.
Reyna nodded her reply.
"At least they don't eat, because they're metal." Hylla tossed her bag of coins at Reyna's feet. "They're putting us down right there."
Reyna looked at where she was pointing. On the top of a hill overlooking the river was a large colonial house with people filing in an rout of it. "Looks important."
"Hopefully, there'll be something there that will tell us where we are." Hylla turned away. "I sure am glad to get off this God damn ship."