Across The Sea by Eric Marier

last
fought on. Mann grabbed this fierce fighter from behind, by the
shoulder, and with one arm throw, launched him off the dock, sword
and all.
    Francis looked up at the
sailors, trying hard not to move his head too much, lest he stab
the back of his own neck onto Bodin’s sword himself. The sailors
now encircled both he and Bodin.
    “Surrender the boy, Bodin,”
Mann ordered once more. “You’ve no options left.”
    Bodin lifted an index finger to
his lips, licked its tip, and then held the finger up.
    “Do not forget the wind,” he
said. He put his hand down and smiled, revealing his pointy,
demonic teeth. “The wind is always an option.”
    “Men,” the Captain announced.
“Be ready. He is about to attempt to break through.”
    “I do not want to fight you,
Captain Mann,” Bodin said. “I know of your reputation all too
well.”
    “You’re not leaving yourself
much choice,” the Captain shot back.
    “You heard my warning,” Bodin
said, staring straight into Mann’s eyes. “Now, I must be on my
way.”
    Francis swallowed again as he
felt the prickling tip of Bodin’s sword pull away.
    The men behind Bodin raised
their swords, ready, as Bodin clenched the back of Francis’ shirt
and hurled him back, toward the end of the dock. The sailors behind
Francis lifted their swords away to avoid stabbing him. Bodin
slashed his sword at one crossbow, and then the other, so fast that
the men holding them could not register what was taking place. Both
crossbows flew up, loose in the air, one releasing its arrow toward
the night sky. At the end of the chain, Francis was swung to his
left in a semi-circle as the sailors all backed away, so as not to
hurt him. Bodin pulled and Francis careened back toward him. Bodin,
as he ran, scooped Francis in one arm and sheathed his sword with
the other.
    He jumped off the edge of the
high dock and plummeted downwards, Francis still held in one arm.
He landed onto the small boat on his feet and fell to his knees,
dropping Francis. He reached out with one hand and pulled on a rope
which raised the main sail. He spun round, unsheathing his sword
and slicing the ropes tying the boat to the stilt.
    The wind pushed them off.
    Captain Mann reached the edge
of the dock and watched as Bodin and the sailboat moved away. He
could not let Bodin escape yet again. He turned back toward his
men, one of whom was placing an arrow into his retrieved
crossbow.
    “Captain, what do we do?” an
urgent Templeton asked him.
    “Stay here,” Captain Mann
replied, taking a few steps toward him. “I did not live through
this day just to wish him bon voyage.”
    Captain Mann turned his
athletic frame toward the dock end and launched into a sprint. He
leaped off the edge, soaring toward the boat on the water.
    Bang ! The Captain landed
on his feet, kneeling down to break his fall, right behind Bodin in
the cockpit. Bodin veered round, releasing his sword. Mann stuck
his sword up and stopped the blow. Clang ! Mann leaped to his
feet and swung his sword. Bodin blocked it with his. They fought
on. Francis, standing on the roof of the cabin, could do nothing
but watch. What can I do to help the Captain ? he thought to
himself. There must be something…
    Captain Mann fought with great
skill and dexterity, but so did Bodin. Mann backed Bodin toward the
bow as the boat sailed further and further from the dock. On the
dock itself, the two sailors with crossbows attempted to aim their
weapons at Bodin but they were too far now and Mann and Bodin were
too close together. The two did not want to risk shooting their
captain by accident.
    Mann and Bodin, still swinging
their swords at each other, were now nearing Francis on the cabin
roof. Francis’ wrists remained bound together by the chain but
otherwise he was free to move about.
    The Captain struck Bodin’s
sword up and now had an opening. He had known since this evening
began that this was going to be a fight to the death. He brought
his sword in for the